NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — The largest field in major championship golf tees off in the 108th PGA Championship starting Thursday at Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia.
While 156 golfers are competing, there are only a handful who figure to have a chance to lift a Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday.
They’re the familiar names who have dominated golf the past few seasons — Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cameron Young.
Of course, they’ll not be the only golfers with a chance to win. Three-time major champion Jordan Spieth will try to complete the career Grand Slam. Matt Fitzpatrick will attempt to win for the fourth time on tour this season and grab the second major of his career.
There will be 11 LIV Golf players in the field, including Tyrrell Hatton and Joaquín Niemann.
The Donald Ross-designed course figures to be part of the storyline this week. It’s the first time that Aronimink Golf Club has hosted a PGA Championship since Gary Player won in 1962. The nine-time major champion is now 90 years old.
“What makes this place difficult are the greens,” said Keegan Bradley, who won the 2018 BMW Championship at Aronimink Golf Club. “So you really need to be able to control your distances, hit the ball in the fairway. Off the tee it’s not extremely challenging, but the greens get really crazy and they are really mounded and hilly and just like a lot of northeast courses are like. So to put the ball in the right spot is really important.”
Here are some of the biggest questions heading into the PGA Championship:
Scottie Scheffler or Rory McIlroy this week?
Mark Schlabach: Aronimink has wide fairways, fewer trees and 174 bunkers, which you’d expect at a Donald Ross course. The rough doesn’t seem to be as thick or penalizing as it might have been, which leads me to believe that a big hitter like Rory or Scottie is probably going to lift the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday.
McIlroy and Scheffler have combined…
