US PGA Championship 2026: Cam Young one of three picks for Steve Rawlings at Aronimink

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US PGA Championship tournament history

The Professional Golfers Association of America was formed in February 1916, one month after wealthy store owner Rodman Wanamaker (the man the giant trophy played for this week is named after) had hosted a lunch meeting with the leading professionals of the age to set out the agenda for the formal organisation of the PGA.

In the October of 1916, the very first US PGA Championship was staged, in match play format. There was no tournament in 1917 or 1918 because of the First World War and the Second World War put pay to the 1943 renewal so this is the 108^th edition.

Previously staged in August, as the PGA Tour season ended, and after the other three majors had all been played, the US PGA Championship was very much viewed as the least prestigious of the four majors and the inception of the FedEx Cup Series in 2007 certainly didn't help.

To give the Championship the gravitas it deserved, a change to the PGA Tour schedule in 2019 moved it to May and it became the second major of the year.

The US PGA Championship returns to Aronimink Golf Course in Newton Square, Pennsylvania this year, 64 years after it hosted the 44^th edition in 1962.

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Venue

Aronimink Golf Course, Newton Square, Pennsylvania.

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Course details

Par 70 -7,394 yards 

Aronimink Golf Club dates all the way back to 1896 but the current course - designed by Donald Ross - didn't open until 1928.

The course was restored by Ron Pritchard in the last 1990s prior to it staging a now defunct PGA Tour event called the National in 2010 and 2011, and Gill Hanse worked on the course for two years prior to Aronimink hosting the BMW Championship in 2018, returning a reputed 100 bunkers to the layout following the discovery of some early photos of the course.

Aronimink also staged the 1962 of this event, won by Gary Player, and the 2003 Senior PGA Championship, won by John Jacobs.

This is what Ross had to say about the track 20 years after he'd designed it.

"I intended to make this course my masterpiece, but not until today did I realize I built better than I knew."

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Weather forecast

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TV coverage

Live on Sky Sports all four days, starting at 13:00 on Thursday.

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Last 12 US PGA Championship winners with approx' Betfair Exchange prices

2025 -  Scottie Scheffler -11 6.611/2
2024 - Xander Schauffele -21 18.017/1
2023 - Brooks Koepka -9 28.027/1
2022 - Justin Thomas -5 (playoff) 21.020/1
2021 - Phil Mickelson -6 540.0539/1
2020 - Collin Morikawa -13 36.035/1
2019 - Brooks Koepka -8 12.011/1
2018 - Brooks Koepka -16 23.022/1
2017 - Justin Thomas -8 50.049/1
2016 - Jimmy Walker -14 220.0219/1
2015 - Jason Day -20 16.015/1
2014 - Rory McIlroy -16 6.86/1

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Past results at Aronimink

Although it's been eight years since Aronimink was last used and the two editions of the now defunct National are even further back, it's still worth having a look at those three results.

Here's the top five for each of the three tournaments, together with the traditional stats.

(Key: DD - Driving Distance; DA - Driving Accuracy; GIR - Greens in Regulation; SC - Scrambling; PA - Putting Average) 

2010 National

Justin Rose -10- DD: 20, DA: 15, GIR: 10, SC: 1, PA: 19 
Ryan Moore -9- DD: 37, DA: 23, GIR: 24, SC: 11, PA: 2 
Jeff Overton -8- DD: 14, DA: 55, GIR: 19, SC: 3, PA: 17 
Charlie Wi -7- DD: 55, DA: 32, GIR: 60, SC: 4, PA: 1 
J.B Holmes -6- DD: 3, DA: 60, GIR: 3, SC: 15, PA: 60 

2011 National

Nick Watney -13 - DD: 4, DA: 12, GIR: 27, SC: 18, PA: 3 
K.J Choi -11 - DD: 57, DA: 4, GIR: 13, SC: 27, PA: 7 
Charles Howell -9- DD: 17, DA: 66, GIR: 27, SC: 1, PA: 16 
Jeff Overton -9- DD: 10, DA: 59, GIR: 48, SC: 4, PA: 2 
Adam Scott -9 - DD: 16, DA: 25, GIR: 22, SC: 2, PA: 4 

2018 BMW Championship

Keegan Bradley -20 - DD: 45, DA: 17, GIR: 50, SC: 50, PA: 1 
Justin Rose -20 - DD: 16, DA: 7, GIR: 24, SC: 3, PA: 10 
Billy Horschel -19- DD: 49, DA: 33, GIR: 6, SC: 64, PA: 2
Xander Schauffele -19- DD: 15, DA: 33, GIR: 14, SC: 22, PA: 4 
Rory McIlroy -18 - DD: 1, DA: 23, GIR: 6, SC: 52, PA: 7 

Looking back at the results of the National in 2010 and 2011, the stat that stands out is Scrambling.

The 2010 winner, Justin Rose, ranked number one, with the next five on the leaderboard ranking 11^th, third, fourth, 15^th and fifth and although the first and second a year later, Nick Watney and K.J Choi, only ranked 18^th and 27^th, the three players tied for third place, Charles Howell, Adam Scott and Jeff Overton, ranked first, fourth and second for Scrambling.

The scoring was much better at the BMW Championship, with the two players reaching double digits under-par, and that stats differed too with Putting Average much more important than Scrambling.

Aronimink also hosted the Senior PGA Championship in 2003, which John Jacobs won by two strokes in four-under par.

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USPGA Betting Trends - A recent win is a huge plus

The US PGA Championship has moved around a bit in the calendar over the last few years but a previous win earlier in the season has been a very strong pointer historically with as many as 20 of the last 26 winners having already won an event prior to their success in the US PGA Championship.

It's not especially incredible that a major should be won by someone that had already tasted success earlier in the season, especially when it used to feature towards the end of the season, but it's worth highlighting that the list of 20 includes some very unlikely US PGA winners, with the likes of Y.E. Yang, Rich Beem, David Toms and Keegan Bradley (in his first major championship 15 years ago) all winning a tournament earlier in the season before they won what was then the final major of the year.

Scottie Scheffler started last year slowly after cutting his hand on the stem of a wine glass while making ravioli on Christmas day, but he won the Byron Nelson by eight strokes in his final start before winning this event at Quail Hollow before five.

Xander Schauffele hadn't won prior to his 2024 victory at Valhalla, but he was bang in form. He'd finished second to Scheffler at the Players Championship, having led by a stroke with a round to go, and the week before securing his first major success, he'd finished runner-up to Rory at Quail Hollow, having again led by one with 18 to play.

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USPGA Betting Pointer - Sedgefield and Sawgrass should provide clues

Form at Donald Ross designed tracks tends to cross over nicely so it's well worth highlighting which other Ross courses have been used on the PGA Tour recently. 

The Ross designed Oak Hill Country Club was the venue for this event 13 years and Oakland Hills hosted six US Opens between 1924 and 1999, as well as this event in 2008, but that's old form now. 

The Ross designed Pinehurst No 2 has hosted the US Open four times since 1999 and most recently in 2024 when Bryson DeChambeau edged out Rory McIlroy. 

East Lake in Atlanta, Georgia, the home of the FedEx Cup finale - the Tour Championship - was originally designed by Tom Bendelow in 1908 but it was redesigned just five years later by Ross and two other Ross designed layouts are used every year on the PGA Tour. 

Detroit Golf Club has hosted the Rocket Classic every year since the inaugural edition in 2019 and Sedgefield Country Club has been the home of the Wyndham Championship since 2008. 

I like the Wyndham link and if form at Sedgefield is worth looking at then so too is the Pete Dye designed home of the Players Championship, Sawgrass. 

Like Si Woo Kim in 2016 and 2017, Cam Young won the Players Championship in May, just months after winning the Wyndham Championship and Webb Simpson, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Davis Love III and K.J Choi have all also won at both venues fairly recently.

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Is there an identikit USPGA winner?

As always, Dave Tindall's done a fabulous job of uncovering lots of great trends in his 10-year trends piece here, with my particular favourite being that the last ten winners have all been American.

He also highlights that six of those American winners were in their 20s but it's perhaps worth adding that the 2024 winner,  Xander Schauffele, was only 30.

This used to be a great Championship for big outsiders and the three winners between 2001 and 2003 - David Toms, Rich Beem and Shaun Micheel - went off at huge prices. They were very hard to pick and had either Chris DiMarco or Justin Leonard won the 2004 playoff at Whistling Straits instead of Vijay Singh, the run of triple-figure priced winners would have stretched to four.

The 2009 champ, Y.E Yang, went off at around 330.0329/1, Keegan Bradley was matched at a whopping 650.0649/1 before the off 14 years ago, the 2016 winner, Jimmy Walker, was matched at a juicy 220.0219/1 and Phil Mickelson was a whopping 540.0539/1 chance five years ago, but seven of the last eight winners have been easy enough to spot.

Whether we get an outsider or not, the chances are they'll be a first-time major winner that's inside the world's top 50...

The last two majors have won by someone that had already bagged a major - Rory (US Masters) and Scheffler (Open) but Schauffele won his first major in this event two years ago and 24 of the last 42 (57%) major championships have gone to a first-time major winner so don't be surprised if we get another but do expect them to feature highly in the Official World Rankings.

We need to bear in mind that the figures are a bit skewed since the inception of the LIV Golf Tour but since Keegan Bradley's win in this Championship 15 years ago, the 2021 shock winner, Phil Mickelson, is the only major champion that wasn't inside the world's top-50 but Lefty broke most trends and defied all sorts of logic when he won at the age of 51 - ranking 116^th in the world.

Looking at this event alone, 23 of the last 39 winners (58%) were breaking their major duck when they won and that's quite an impressive number given Mickelson's surprise second success, that Brooks Koepka has won three of the last eight US PGAs (his third, fourth and fifth major wins) and that Tiger Woods has won five of the last 40 editions.

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In-play course history

There's only been four events here this century so there's not much to go on but here's how the four tournaments panned out...

After tying for the lead after round one, the 2003 Senior PGA Championship winner, John Jacobs, was always inside the top three places but the other three course winners this century all trailed after round one.

Rose sat tied for 19^th and three off the lead, Watney was tied 29^th and four adrift, and Keegan Bradley was tied for 12^th and four back.

A 64 in round two saw Rose hit the front in 2010, and he was four clear with a round to play before a 70 on Sunday saw him win by a stroke.

Watney sat six back and in a tie for 21^st at the midway point but he was tied for the lead with 18 to play after a course record 62 on Moving day and he went on to win by two.

Bradley beat Rose in a playoff in 2018, and both men were inside the top three from halfway.

Rose, who had sat alongside Bradley in a tie for 12^th after round one, sat second after 36 holes and he'd been one in front with a round to go.

Bradley had sat third and three adrift at halfway and he dropped to sixth, and still three adrift, after 54 holes.

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USPGA Bets - Steve Rawlings' three selections

With three wins in his last 15 starts, or two in his last five if you prefer, the world number three, Cam Young, is far and away the best player not to have a yet won a major championship and this looks the perfect opportunity for him to get off the mark.

The 29-year-old was matched at just 2.111/10 in-play on the Betfair Exchange to win the US Masters last month after five holes of the final round before he eventually finished tied for third behind Rory McIlroy and he now has top four finishes in all four majors, including a fourth in Pennsylvania in the US Open last year and a third place finish in this Championship on debut in 2022.

Young won his first PGA Tour title at the Wyndham Championship last year, by six strokes, and he finished second on debut at Detroit Golf Club in 2022, despite sitting tied for 79^th after the opening round, so he has form at two Donald Ross layouts.

In addition to having that Ross form in the book that suggests he'll take to Aronimink, Young ticks all the correct trends boxes, coming out on top in Dave Tindall's 10 year trends piece.

He'll be slightly disappointed by his final round at Quail Hollow on Sunday, which saw him slip from third to 10^th as he attempted to win back-to-back tournaments following his facile six-stroke victory in the Cadillac Championship the week before but he's a perfectly fair price here at anything over 12/113.00.

Like Young, the world number 10, Chris Gotterup, has already won twice this year on the PGA Tour, at the Sony Open in January and the Phoenix Open a month later.

His form has dipped a bit since then, but he caught the eye in the Truist Championship last week where he finished tied for 14^th after a slow start.

His third-place behind Scottie Scheffler in the Open last year, a week after he'd won the Scottish Open, shows he has the game to win a major championship and at just 26, he has the right age profile for this one.

At 35, J.J. Spaun may not have quite the right age profile but the world number eight is a big price to win his second major championship given he won the US Open in Pennsylvania last year, that he's a recent winner on the PGA Tour, that he has form at Donald Ross courses and that he finished an eye-catching fifth at the Truist Championship on Sunday.

Spaun won his second Texas Open last month and he's ticked over nicely since he missed the cut in the US Masters the following week, finishing 25^th at The Heritage, 14^th in the Cadillac Championship and fifth at Quail Hollow last week.

He wasn't in great form when finishing 45^th at Aronimink in the BMW Championship in 2018 but he has Detroit Golf Club form figures reading 13-30-32-8-33-10 and he was third in the Wyndham Championship last year so in addition to strong current form, recent winning form, he has very fair form at Donald Ross designed layouts.

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