The second major of the season comes to us from Aronimink in Pennsylvania with Scottie Scheffler looking to defend the crown he claimed at Quail Hollow last year. The form of the three favourites coming in is exceptional with Scheffler finishing Top 4 in 12 of his last 15 tournaments, Rory McIlroy fresh off defending his Masters crown and Cameron Young winning twice in his last five starts. We are in for a big major week.
Key Stats/Skill Set Required
- Driving Distance
- Strokes Gained: Tee To Green
- Scrambling
- Strokes Gained: Around The Green
- Bogey Avoidance
- Putting Average
- Strokes Gained: Approach
- Par 3: 200+ Yards
Aronimink is a classical Donald Ross design that has been reworked twice in the last three decades with the latest facelift designed by members to win the course its second men’s major championship. Distance, as with all PGA Championships, is critical while a strong short game has proven important from the little we have seen of Aronimink. Playing well on the long Par 3s is another factor that needs to be added into thinking.
Key Correlation Courses/Tournaments
- Sedgefield
- Pinehurst No.2
- Detroit Golf Club
- East Lake
There are few players on the planet hitting them as well or getting the results that Cameron Young is getting with the New Yorker winning the Players Championship and Cadillac Championship in the last five starts. He has now won three times and finished Top 11 another nine times in his last 16 starts. While he has yet to win his first major he has an exceptional record in the big events with Top 10 finishes in seven of his last 16 majors. He won The Wyndham last season and that is one of the key guides to here, another classic Donald Ross course. His profile is beautiful ranking 2nd in Scrambling, 2nd in Bogey Avoidance and 6th in Strokes Gained: Tee To Green. Being an American with a season win, strong major form, a PGA Championship Top 10 and a high Data Golf ranking, he really is a perfect fit here.
Having won the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla, Xander Schauffele has shown he has what it takes to get the job done on one of golf’s biggest stages. He is starting to show some of that form again too with seven straight Top 25 finishes before a poor showing in the Truist. A third at the Players Championship in March shows his trajectory is pointing in the right direction. He ranks 7th in Scrambling, 12th in Bogey Avoidance, 15th in Strokes Gained: Tee To Green and 19th in Strokes Gained: Approach. Ticks a lot of boxes.
Former US Open winner JJ Spaun is another returning to form who won the Valero Texas Open and has finished Top 25 in three of four starts since. He ranks 9th in Strokes Gained: Approach and 14th in Strokes Gained: Tee To Green. He fits the winner profile nicely too with a season win, being an American, ranking Top 20 in Data Golf and coming off a Top 5 finish. Over the odds.
The PGA Championship is a tournament for in-form bombers and nobody hits that mark better than Chris Gotterup, who ranks 5th in Driving Distance and won twice earlier in the season when claiming the Sony Open and Phoenix Open. Gotterup also ranks 14th in Strokes Gained: Tee To Green while he has form at recent majors and at key course Sedgefield.
There is no more underrated player on the PGA Tour than Kurt Kitayama, the former Arnold Palmer Invitational winner who is playing well enough to win here. He ranks 6th in Strokes Gained: Approach, 16th in Strokes Gained: Tee To Green, 18th in Bogey Avoidance and 19th in Driving Distance. He has finished Top 10 in this tournament previously back in 2023.
Matt McCarty has been in super form of late with five straight Top 25 finishes including three straight Top 10s. He is flying and his Masters performance finishing T-24 shows he is up to the big stage.
Hideki Matsuyama is far too short in this event. Ryo Hisatsune ranks Top 20 in long Par 3s and Strokes Gained: Tee To Green. Very good bet.
Cam Young and Xander Schauffele are two of the best value favourites while Chris Gotterup is as suited to this course as anyone in the field.