NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Aronimink Golf Club heard your jabs, your insults, your disrespect. The course is going to play soft! The pros are going to annihilate this place! Strategy off the tee is pretty much nonexistent!
That last line was Rory McIlroy, and, well, look what Aronimink did to him on Thursday: a ragged +4 round, one he deemed “S–t.” Aronimink 1, two-time defending Masters champion 0.
McIlroy certainly wasn’t the only player Aronimink knocked around. The first round of the PGA Championship ended in unseasonable chill, gusty winds and a more jammed-up leaderboard than most majors ever see. The names ran from the highly familiar (defending champion Scottie Scheffler) to the debut performers (21-year-old Aldritch Potgieter).
In all, seven players held a share of the Day 1 lead at -3: Scheffler, Potgieter, Stephan Jaeger, Min Woo Lee, Ryo Hisatsune, Martin Kaymer and Alex Smalley. Another eight players stood just one stroke behind, and in all, nearly 50 players were within three strokes of the lead.
So what happened to the deepest field in golf? Aronimink’s tricky greens were every bit as wicked as advertised, but Thursday also included the added card-killing variables of wind, nasty rough and diabolical pin placement. Add all that together, and you have a recipe for a bruising first round at a tournament that’s often happy to keep its players happy with low scores.
Play 2026 Soccer Pick ‘Em with FOX One and make your picks for the world’s biggest soccer tournament
Player after player walked from the Aronimink scoring tent looking a bit dazed. McIlroy was the most succinct, but many others held forth with a bit more detail.
“If you just go by some of the numbers, some of the fairways are wide, the greens aren’t crazy firm. But a lot of those fairways are sloped in a way that they play very narrow,” said Jon Rahm after a -1 round. “Then the rough doesn’t look as long as many other majors, but it’s such a thick blade of grass that, even when the lie looks okay, it catches you so bad. So I can see how in appearance it might (seem) easier, but it’s not. You need to play really good golf to shoot lower than 3-under.”
“It’s hard. It was windy,” said Xander Schauffele after a -2 round. “Guys were hitting 300 (yards on par 4s) … that means you’re going to have anywhere between 80 to 100 yards to a back pin, and you’re trying to land it in a tiny window.”
“Around the greens is kind of tough. I think you’ve got to get somewhat lucky,” added Min Woo Lee, -3 on the day. “It can be unpredictable. The (lies) that sit down, you give it a little bit more (effort), and then it just jumps. Then the ones that sit up, you think it’s going to come out hard, and it comes out soft.”
If the PGA of America is determined to work over the players for the rest of the weekend, this could be a rough go. Friday morning is expected to be chilly, winds will be swirling all weekend, and there’s no more rain in the forecast to slow down the greens. Whatever else this weekend will be at the PGA Championship, it won’t be anything close to easy.