US PGA Championship 2026: Three picks from Dave Tindall in his early look at Aronimink

• Dave Tindall's antepost series on the 2026 Majors continues with a look at the US PGA

• Sam Burns is a superb putter with the right profile

• Keegan Bradley is a former course winner at Aronimink

• Cameron Young has a strong record in the majors

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Tournament: The 2026 US PGA Championship
When: May 14-17
Where: Aronimink Golf Club, Pennsylvania
How to watch: All four days live on Sky Sports

Aronimink may ring a bell - albeit a bit of a distant one - with many golf punters.

Located in Pennsylvania, the par 70 hasn't hosted a men's major since Gary Player won the 1962 PGA Championship there with 2-under.

Since then the Donald Ross design (there was a Gil Hanse revamp in 2018) has held the 1977 US Amateur, the 2003 Senior PGA Championship and the 2020 Women's PGA Championship.

More familiar will be it's time as a three-time PGA Tour destination. Here are the top five from each of those events.

2010 - AT&T National: -10 Justin Rose, -9 Ryan Moore, -8 Jeff Overton, -7 Charlie Wi, -6 J.B. Holmes

2011 - AT&T National: -13 Nick Watney, -11 KJ Choi, -9 Charles Howell III, Jeff Overton, Adam Scott 

2018 - BMW Championship: -20 Keegan Bradley, Justin Rose, -19 Billy Horschel, Xander Schauffele, -18 Rory McIlroy. Tommy Fleetwood was tied eighth. 

In 2018, eight of the top 11 ranked in the top 10 for SG: Putting. Then again, scoring was very low due to very soft conditions. 

Approach was important too as the leading four in that category (Rory, Tiger, Horschel and Schauffele) all finished in the top six.

In 2011, the top five ranked 1st,  9th, 12th, 2nd and 3rd for SG Putting.

In 2010, the top four ranked 3rd, 1st, 13nd and 2nd for SG: Putting.

The Betfair Sportsbook is currently offering six each-way places (1/5 odds) and the top of the betting (December 15th) looks like this: 4/15.00 Scottie Scheffler, 11/26.50 Rory McIlroy, 9/110.00 Bryson DeChambeau, 14/115.00 Jon Rahm, 18/119.00 Justin Thomas, 20/121.00 Xander Schauffele, 22/123.00 Ludvig Aberg, 25/126.00 Colin Morikawa, 33/134.00 Joaquin Niemann, Patrick Cantlay, Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland, 40/141.00 Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama, Jordan Spieth, Tyrrell Hatton.

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Bet 1: Back Sam Burns @ 80/181.00

I tipped Sam Burns at 50s in this preview last year so, 12 months on, it's interesting to see him 30 points bigger at this stage.

Burns did okay in 2025, finishing 19th (his second top 20 in the last four US PGAs), and then built on that with a big run at the following month's US Open.

He led after 36 and 54 holes but came apart on Sunday, shooting a 78 and dropping to seventh.

Still, it's so often the case that major winners need to have experienced the heat of battle before getting over the line and hopefully that experience at ultra-tough Oakmont will prove money in the bank for Burns.

With two previous wins in May, it comes at a good time of year for him and the previous high SG: Putting rankings of former Aronimink champions gets Burns' name flashing too.

In 2025, he ranked first for SGP on the PGA Tour and the putter is clearly one of his biggest weapons.

Location-wise, Oakmont is also in Pennsylvania so holding the 54-hole lead in a major there is encouraging ahead of his return to the state.

As is lying sixth with a round to play in last May's Truist Championship, another event in Pennsylvania.

He slumped on Sunday there too but Burns is a five-time PGA Tour winner so does know how to get it done.

Two final points. First, Burns was ninth in the 2024 US Open at Pinehurst, another Donald Ross design, while he's finished in the top 15 in both his two starts at Ross's Sedgefield (Wyndham Championship).

Second, twentysomethings have won seven of the last 11 US PGAs and Burns will be 29 when he tees it up at Aronimink in May.

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Bet 2: Back Keegan Bradley @ 100/1101.00

Keegan Bradley's strongest memory of 2025 will be the Ryder Cup and the loss to the Europeans that hurt him so badly.

But as a player, he's had a strong enough year to make many wonder if things would have been a little different at Bethpage had he picked himself as a wildcard.

Bradley's highlights included a win at the Travelers Championship in June, fifth at Bay Hill, seventh at Memorial, seventh at the Tour Championship and eighth in this event.

Of course, it was at this tournament in 2011 that he achieved the very rare feat of winning a major at his very first attempt.

He backed up that win at Atlanta Athletic Club with third at Kiawah Island the following year while eighth at Quail Hollow in 2024 was his third top 20 in the last five US PGAs.

Right now, he's a three-figure price but if he plays well near May and the discussion that he's won on this course (2018) before gets louder, those odds are likely to drop.

While younger players have typically done better in this event, don't forget that Phil Mickelson won the 2021 US PGA as a 50-year-old.

Bradley, a New Englander who feels at home in the north-east, will still only be 39 in May, 2026. 

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Bet 3: Back Cameron Young @ 80/181.00

Americans have won each of the last 10 US PGAs so I don't mind adding a third.

It took Cameron Young far too long to win a PGA Tour event but when he did, the man from New York got the job done in style.

Young blitzed the field by six shots to land August's Wyndham Championship and in the four events he played after that the 28-year-old posted finishes of 5-11-4-9.

As mentioned, Sedgefied is a Donald Ross design and Young also has a second and a sixth at Ross's Detroit Golf Club (Rocket Classic).

Building on the new-found confidence that comes with a first win, Young finished as joint-top USA scorer at Bethpage on his Ryder Cup debut.

Before all that, Young had made his name as an excellent performer in the majors.

He was third on his debut in this event in 2022 before finishing runner-up in The Open at St Andrews two majors later.

Young added further top 10s in the 2023 Open as well as the 2023 and 2024 Masters.

He now has six top 10s in his last 15 majors after his tied fourth in last year's US Open.

To complete his case, Young ranked seventh for Strokes Gained: Putting in 2025.

Some strong form in the first part of 2026 and that 80s will disappear.

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*You can follow me on Twitter @DaveTindallgolf

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