Sure, it’s a cut (or two) below the Masters, the U.S. Open and the British Open. But the PGA Championship is still a major, and the best players in the world will be gunning for the Wanamaker Trophy when the first round tees off on Thursday at 130-year-old Aronimink Golf Club near Philadelphia.
Here’s a look at some of the most interesting players in the 156-man field, including a rising Canadian rookie with a fascinating backstory.
The Big 2
Any discussion of major-championship contenders must begin with Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, who occupy the top two spots in the world rankings and have won four of the last five majors. They also finished 1-2 at last month’s Masters, where McIlroy grabbed his second consecutive green jacket with a one-stroke win over Scheffler, who shot 11 under par over the final two rounds to charge up the leaderboard after a slow start.
Scheffler won the Masters in 2022 and ’24, and last year added his first PGA Championship and British Open titles. He began his 2026 season with a victory in the California desert before hitting a rough patch (by his standards) in late February and March, finishing outside the top 10 in three straight tournaments. But the 29-year-old American’s game has come back around since his second son was born on March 27. Starting with the Masters, Scheffler has finished second in all three of his tournaments as a double dad.
McIlroy didn’t compete for a month after his Masters repeat. That’s an indication that, at this stage of his career, the 37-year-old Northern Irishman is laser-focused on adding to his six major championships, which include a pair of PGA Championships in 2012 and ’14. He returned for last week’s lucrative event at Quail Hollow, where he’s won four times but finished tied for 19th after a 4-over third round took him out of contention.
The other big boys
Some are saying the Big 2 is actually a Big 3 now as Cameron Young has arguably been the player of the year so far. The 29-year-old American captured the prestigious Players Championship in March, tied for third at the Masters, won the big-money Cadillac Championship earlier this month and tops the money list with about $11.8 million US in earnings already. Young has never won a major, but he has four top-four finishes and is the clear No. 3 favourite in the betting odds this week.
Other PGA Tour stars to watch include two-time major winners Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa; young Swede Ludvig Aberg, who’s hunting for his first major; and old Englishman Justin Rose, who tied for third at the Masters and has a win and a runner-up in his three career appearances at Aronimink. However, the 45-year-old recently switched to irons made by McLaren (yes, the car company) and has finished outside the top 40 in his two events with the new clubs.
The LIV guys
With LIV Golf on the brink of collapse after the Saudi royal family yanked its billions in funding for the decadent rebel league, it’s an awkward time for Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau. They’re the only true needle-movers left in LIV after Brooks Koepka bolted earlier this year, and everyone is wondering whether they’ll try to follow him back to the PGA Tour.
After a rough Masters (Rahm tied for 38th while DeChambeau missed the cut), both guys are in need of a big week to get their mojo back. That’s certainly possible as Rahm is the No. 4 betting favourite while the big-hitting DeChambeau, who has carved out a highly successful side-hustle as a YouTube star, is just a few spots behind him after back-to-back runner-up finishes at the PGA Championship.
The Canadians
Though Brooke Henderson won women’s major championships in 2016 and 2022, it’s been 23 years since Mike Weir delivered Canada’s only men’s major title with his iconic victory at the 2003 Masters. Four players — Corey Conners, Taylor Pendrith, Nick Taylor and Sudarshan Yellamaraju — will tee it up on Thursday with dreams of ending the major drought.
According to the official world rankings, Conners is the top Canadian at No. 50. But he hasn’t looked so hot this year, failing to crack the top 10 in any of his 11 starts and finishing no better than 30th in each of his last four, including a tie for 49th at the Masters. And Pendrith, ranked 86th, has been a complete non-factor since tying for sixth at the season-opening Sony Open back in January.
Taylor’s season wasn’t much to write home about either, but he’s been playing some great golf in the month of May, tying for ninth and 14th at a pair of the PGA Tour’s lucrative “signature” events. Those results sent him up to 58th in the world rankings and a Canadian-high 40th in the more analytically informed Data Golf rankings. The 2023 Canadian Open champ has five career wins on the PGA Tour but struggles in the majors: over the last five years he’s made just three of 13 cuts, and he’s never cracked the top 20 in his career.
Yellamaraju is by far the most intriguing Canadian this week. The 24-year-old Tour rookie was born in India before his family moved to Winnipeg when he was four and later settled in the Toronto area. He taught himself how to play golf by watching YouTube videos and, despite never taking a formal swing lesson, was able to turn pro in 2021 at the age of 19.
Yellamaraju won on the Korn Ferry Tour last year to earn his PGA Tour card, and is now enjoying an impressive debut season in the big leagues. He’s made the cut in 12 of his 13 starts and has six top-25s, including a big T5 at the Players Championship in March and a T6 at the lower-status Houston Open a couple weeks later, while pocketing more than $2.1 million US in prize money. He currently stands 77th, and rising, in the Data Golf rankings as he prepares for his major-championship debut.
