The 2026 PGA Championship was the 108th edition of the PGA Championship, the second of the four men's major golf championships held in 2026. The tournament took place on May 14–17 at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, a suburb west of Philadelphia.
Aaron Rai won the golf tournament and his first career major championship, winning by three strokes over runners-up Jon Rahm and Alex Smalley. Rai became the second player of Indian heritage to win a men's major championship, after Vijay Singh, and the first from England to win the PGA Championship since Jim Barnes, who won the first two editions in 1916 and 1919. Rai became only the eighth player to win a major with a lower score in each round.
Venue
This is the second time the PGA Championship was played at Aronimink, which also hosted in 1962. The club has also hosted other prominent golf championships including the 1977 U.S. Amateur, the 2020 Women's PGA Championship, the 2003 Senior PGA Championship, the 2010 and 2011 AT&T National and the 2018 BMW Championship.
Course yardage HoleYardsParHoleYardsPar14344 1047242413411425434554124664445741338545171314216364024155464743141655558242317229396055184904 Out3,61035 In3,78435 Total 7,39470 Previous course lengths for major championships – par 70, 1962 PGA Championship
Field
Round summaries First round Thursday, May 14, 2026
Seven players posted first rounds of 67, three under par, to share the lead at the end of the first day: Scottie Scheffler, Min Woo Lee, Martin Kaymer, Alex Smalley, Aldrich Potgieter, Stephan Jäger and Ryo Hisatsune. The seven-way tie was the most shared leaders at the PGA Championship since 1969, which had nine leaders at the same stage. Among all major championships, it was the most shared leaders since another seven-way tie after the first round of the 1977 U.S. Open.
Scheffler, the defending champion and world number one, made five birdies and two bogies; this was the first time in his career that he (jointly) led a major championship after the first round. Martin Kaymer qualified as the 2010 champion, but had not won a professional tournament since the 2014 U.S. Open and was ranked 1,160th in the Official World Golf Ranking. He finished the day as a joint leader, having missed an eagle putt on his final hole of the day (the par-5 9th) which would have given him the outright lead.
Patrick Reed was the only player in the field to complete the round without recording a bogey, scoring 68, two under par. A large group of players including major champions Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka, Jason Day and Cameron Smith opened with rounds of 69, one under par. Following an errant shot on the seventh hole, Rahm struck the turf in anger, causing a divot to hit a nearby volunteer in the face. Rahm apologized and said in a press conference afterwards that the incident was "inexcusable".
Garrick Higgo made four birdies and one bogey in his round, but was assessed a two-stroke penalty on the first hole because he arrived late for his tee time; he finished with 69, one under par. He said afterwards: "I wouldn't have been late if I knew I was running late." Masters champion Rory McIlroy struggled throughout the opening round and closed with four consecutive bogeys, finishing with a score of 74, four over par. Bryson DeChambeau scored 76, six over par. Both players were left outside the top 100 after 18holes.
Scoring conditions were difficult throughout the day due to strong wind gusts and demanding hole locations. The average score was 72.26 and there were 63.2% greens in regulation, compared to 77.4% when Aronimink hosted the 2018 BMW Championship.
PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Ryo Hisatsune 67 −3 Stephan Jäger Martin Kaymer Min Woo Lee Aldrich Potgieter Scottie Scheffler Alex SmalleyT8 Dan Brown 68 −2 Corey Conners Max Greyserman Shane Lowry Patrick Reed Xander Schauffele Sahith Theegala
Second round Friday, May 15, 2026
Conditions remained difficult during the second round, with cold weather and strong winds; several players criticized the severity of the hole locations. Alex Smalley retained a share of the lead after a round of 69, leaving him on 136(four under par). Maverick McNealy shared the lead with Smalley after a round of 67, which included an eagle on the par-5 16thhole.
A group of six players—Hideki Matsuyama, Chris Gotterup, Max Greyserman and first-round co-leaders Aldrich Potgieter, Stephan Jäger and Min Woo Lee—were one shot behind on 137(three under par). Gotterup surged into contention with the lowest round of they day, a 65(five under par for the day) which finished with three consecutive birdies. At one point Potgieter had an outright lead, at 5-under par, before late bogeys on holes17 and18 dropped him to tied third position. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler had three bogeys in his first four holes, finishing with a round of 71(+1) which left him tied for ninth at 138(−2), alongside Xander Schauffele, Harris English, Cameron Young, David Puig, Justin Thomas, Kim Si-woo and Ludvig Åberg. Rory McIlroy improved in his second round, a bogey-free 67 (−3).
The cut was at 144 (+4). Among the players eliminated by the cut were 2025 PGA Championship runner-up Bryson DeChambeau, and three of the top ten in the world rankings: Tommy Fleetwood (6), J.J. Spaun (8) and Russell Henley (9). Justin Rose survived the cut by a single stroke, by sinking a eagle chip on his final hole of the day. Ben Kern was the only PGA Professional to make the cut after making six birdies in the second round.
PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Maverick McNealy 69-67=136 −4 Alex Smalley 67-69=136T3 Chris Gotterup 72-65=137 −3 Max Greyserman 68-69=137 Stephan Jäger 67-70=137 Min Woo Lee 67-70=137 Hideki Matsuyama 70-67=137 Aldrich Potgieter 67-70=137T9 Ludvig Åberg 72-66=138 −2 Harris English 71-67=138 Kim Si-woo 71-67=138 David Puig 71-67=138 Scottie Scheffler 67-71=138 Justin Thomas 69-69=138 Cameron Young 71-67=138
Third round Saturday, May 16, 2026
Shifting winds and more accessible hole locations led to substantially lower scoring during moving day, particularly for those with early tee times. Alex Smalley emerged with the outright lead after carding a third-round 68 (−2) to reach 204 (−6). Beginning the day tied for the lead, he recovered from three early bogies with seven birdies over his final 12 holes, including at the par-4 15th, which was the longest par-4 in major championship history at . The 29-year-old American, seeking his first professional victory, took a two-shot advantage into the final round.
A group of five players, Jon Rahm, Ludvig Åberg, Aaron Rai, Matti Schmid and Nick Taylor, were tied for second at 208(−4). Rahm held the outright lead at 5-under before three-putting the par-4 18thhole to make bogey. Rai also briefly had the lead alone at 5-under before bogeying the 18th.
Masters champion Rory McIlroy continued his recovery from an opening-round 74 by shooting a 66(−4), one of the lowest rounds of the day, to move within three shots of the lead. He birdied four of his first seven holes and later said he had regained confidence with his driver after struggling earlier in the championship. McIlroy was tied at 3-under alongside Xander Schauffele, Patrick Reed and Maverick McNealy.
World number one Scottie Scheffler struggled to gain momentum on the greens throughout the round and posted a 71(+1), leaving him five shots behind the lead. Scheffler later described the tournament as "anybody's championship" given the congested leaderboard. In total, 22players finished within four shots of the lead, which was the most after 54 holes at a major since 27 players were within four of the lead at the 2001 Open Championship. The low round of the day was a 65 (−5), and was shared by Justin Rose, Chris Kirk, Matti Schmid, Nick Taylor and Kristoffer Reitan.
PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Alex Smalley 67-69-68=204 −6T2 Ludvig Åberg 72-66-68=206−4 Jon Rahm 69-70-67=206 Aaron Rai 70-69-67=206 Matti Schmid 69-72-65=206 Nick Taylor 69-72-65=206T7 Rory McIlroy 74-67-66=207 −3 Maverick McNealy 69-67-71=207 Patrick Reed 68-72-67=207 Xander Schauffele 68-73-66=207
Final round Sunday, May 17, 2026
Summary
Aaron Rai shot a final-round 65(−5) to win the 108th PGA Championship by three strokes over Jon Rahm and Alex Smalley, earning his first major championship title and becoming the first English winner of the PGA Championship since Jim Barnes in 1919.
Third-round leader Smalley began with a two-shot advantage and kept a steady pace early with five straight pars, before a double bogey on the 6th hole. Rahm birdied his two opening holes to seize the lead, but bogeyed the 3rd and 7th holes to fall backwards. Rai birdied the 1st before bogeying three of his next seven holes to fall to 3-under. At the par-5 9th hole, he holed a eagle putt to move to 5-under for the tournament.
Matti Schmid, playing in the final pairing with Smalley, bogeyed the 1st hole but rebounded with three birdies to hold the outright lead at 6-under headed to back nine. Cameron Smith was in contention a few groups ahead at 5-under, before a three-putt bogey at the 17th hole ended his challenge.
Masters champion Rory McIlroy birdied the 2nd hole to get to 4-under, but did not surpass that mark for the remainder of the round as he struggled to hit fairways off the tee. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler shot a final-round 69(−1) to finish tied for 14th, while McIlroy finished tied for seventh alongside Smith and Xander Schauffele.
Rai birdied the 11th and 13thholes to take the lead at 7-under. After adding another birdie at the par-5 16th, Rai holed a birdie putt at the par-3 17thhole to extend his lead and effectively secure the championship. He safely reached the green in regulation and two-putted for par on the 18th hole to finish at 9-under for the tournament.
Rahm birdied both the par-5 9th and 16th holes to close with a 68(−2) and finish in second place at 6-under-par. Smalley joined him after birdieing the last, while Schmid struggled on the back nine and finished tied fourth with Ludvig Åberg and Justin Thomas. Thomas posted the clubhouse lead earlier in the day after shooting a 65(−5). Beginning the day 10 strokes off the lead, Kurt Kitayama carded a bogey-free 63(−7) to tie the record for the lowest final round in major championship history and climb into the top 10.
Final leaderboard ChampionCrystal Bowl winner (leading PGA Club Pro) (c) = past champion
Top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (US$)1 Aaron Rai 70-69-67-65=271 −9 3,690,000T2 Jon Rahm 69-70-67-68=274 −6 1,804,000 Alex Smalley 67-69-68-70=274T4 Ludvig Åberg 72-66-68-69=275 −5 843,866 Matti Schmid 69-72-65-69=275 Justin Thomas (c) 69-69-72-65=275T7 Rory McIlroy (c) 74-67-66-69=276 −4 637,050 Xander Schauffele (c) 68-73-66-69=276 Cameron Smith 69-71-68-68=276T10 Chris Gotterup 72-65-71-69=277 −3 496,707 Kurt Kitayama 70-69-75-63=277 Patrick Reed 68-72-67-70=277 Justin Rose 70-73-65-69=277