The second major of the year begins on Thursday at Aronimink Golf Club, just outside Philadelphia. It is a tough course that previously hosted the tournament in 1962, when South African legend Gary Player won with a score of two under. Since then, it has hosted various huge events in the women’s senior and amateur game, as well as tournaments on the PGA Tour in 2010, 2011 and 2018.
The winners of those events in 2018 and 2010, Keegan Bradley and Justin Rose, respectively, will be among the field this week. However, it is defending champion Scottie Scheffler who is most fancied to come out on top. The world number one won the third major of his career at Quail Hollow last year before adding a fourth at The Open later in the year.
Scheffler’s consistency is truly remarkable, and he finished second at the Masters in the first major of the year. In the last 13 majors, he has only finished outside the top 10 on two occasions, while his record at the US PGA Championship is also formidable. He missed the cut at the tournament in 2022 but otherwise has finished no worse than tied eighth in his six appearances at this major.
Warm Favourite to Match Kopeka and Woods
The bookies make Scheffler a 9/2 shot to claim the fifth major of his career, and given his record, that looks fair. However, if he does claim victory, he will become just the third player to defend the PGA title in the stroke play era.
When this event was contested using the match play format, the legendary Walter Hagen won four years in a row from 1924 onwards. Another of the greats, Gene Sarazen, also won in 1922 and 1923, while the far-less well-known duo of Leo Diegel and Denny Shute are the other players to have claimed consecutive US PGA titles.
Since the switch in formats came in 1958, however, only Tiger Woods and Brooks Koepka have achieved that feat. Kopeka has three wins at this event to his name, in 2018, 2019 and 2023, and the five-time major champion is priced at 35/1 to win again. Woods won’t be playing this year, but he is the only player (in match play or stroke play) to have won the tournament back-to-back on two separate occasions, doing so in 1999 and 2000 and then again in 2006 and 2007.
There is every reason to think that Scheffler might just join this elite list of successful defending champions. He took last week off to fine-tune his preparations, but heads into the second major of the year having finished second in his past three events. His form is clearly strong, and he retains a huge lead at the top of the world rankings. He will almost certainly be in the mix on a course where accuracy is key, even if the course is almost 7,400 yards and a par 70.
Other Contenders
Of course, with just about all the best golfers in the world there, including LIV’s best in the shape of Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, there is no shortage of competition for Scheffler. As has been the case in so many events over the past two or three years, Rory McIlroy is second to the American in the betting.
Unlike his rival, Rory did play last week, but after briefly contending, a poor third round left him with too much to do on Sunday. He finished 19th at the Truist Championship, but having defended his Masters title in his outing before that, his game is clearly in a very good place, and he finished fifth the last time this course was used on the PGA Tour.
There are lots of other players who will be heading to Pennsylvania in confident mood, with Cam Young up to a career-best third in the world and playing great golf. He tied for seventh at the Genesis, then finished T3 at the Arnold Palmer before winning The Players Championship. Since then, his results include a tie for third at the Masters, a win at the Cadillac Championship and, last time out, a top 10 at the Truist.
He makes obvious appeal and at 12/1 is the third favourite behind Rory (8/1), but we fancy the best value, especially for an each-way punt, is Justin Rose. The Englishman is seventh in the world, and while his last two outings have been disappointing, he was third at the Masters not all that long ago.
His course form, however, is hard to surpass. Rose lost a play-off at Aronimink in 2018, won the AT&T National there in 2010 and tied for 15th at that same event a year later. His accuracy is one of his major strengths, and his elite ball-striking means that if he has a decent week with the putter, he will prove hard to stop.
Scheffler may well do what Jack Nicklaus and several other greats could not, and defend his title. But even if he does, an each-way punt on Rose at a massive 45/1 could still make for a profitable week!