PGA Championship Power Rankings

The year’s second major is upon us as the world’s best players come together for the PGA Championship.

While perhaps seen as the lesser of the four majors, it does hold the distinction of being the only major exclusively open to professionals.

While few would argue the rupture in the game caused by LIV Golf has been good for the game, it has made the majors even more special, presenting just four opportunities a year to see the world’s best all come together.

The PGA Championship typically favours long hitters, with the last four winners reading Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas.

This year, however, there may be added emphasis on approach play. The last time Aronimink was seen on the PGA Tour was for the BMW Championship in 2018, when Keegan Bradley beat Justin Rose in a play-off, ranking 11th for SG: Approach but first for SG: Putting thanks to a stellar week on the greens.

Behind Bradley were runner-up Rose, Billy Horschel, Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy, Webb Simpson, Tiger Woods, Tony Finau, Tommy Fleetwood, Rickie Fowler and Francesco Molinari, suggesting that prowess off the tee will only get you so far this week.

Though Aronimink isn’t the longest course, it is only a par-70, and certain holes will force players to club down, lengthening the course somewhat. It is also expected to play much tougher than it did eight years ago, when 20-under-par was only good enough for a play-off, with fairways tightened and the bentgrass greens quickened up.

Scottie Scheffler completed the second leg of the career Grand Slam last year prior to his Open Championship win and heads to Pennsylvania in defence of his title.

But where does he rank in our PGA Championship Power Rankings? Find out below.

5 - Ludvig Aberg

Since bursting onto the scene, Ludvig Aberg has looked like a major winner in waiting. But majors are never given out, and there are question marks around Aberg’s ability to go out there and close out a tournament.

He collapsed at the Masters in his first two showings when well in contention, he couldn’t build on his stellar opening round 63 at the RBC Heritage, he couldn’t get over the line at the Valero Texas Open and threw away the Players Championship.

For someone seemingly so cool, Aberg’s best golf seems to come when the pressure’s off.

That said, he’s clearly got all the talent in the world and it feels like a matter of time before his sheer raw ability is enough to win one.

Aberg’s iron play is about as good as it’s ever been right now and the Super Swede has gained 3.0+ SG: Approach three times and 4.0+ SG: Approach another three times across his last 35 rounds.

His form has been excellent too, with T20-T3-T5-T5-T21-T4-T8 suggesting his game is right there.

If there’s anything to criticise about Aberg’s start to life as a professional, it’s that his game has come up short in majors. Indeed, the 26-year-old has missed the cut in his first two PGA Championship starts.

But with a game rounding into form nicely, that might all be about to change.

4 - Jon Rahm

On the back of an underwhelming showing at Augusta National, there were question marks around how good LIV actually is for Jon Rahm and his bid to win more majors.

The Spaniard seems better prepared for the PGA Championship on the back of a T8 at LIV’s Virginia event, as opposed to a longer break on the back of a straightforward test in South Africa prior to the Masters.

Rahm was superb in victory at Chapultepec to win by six but will ultimately be measured by his performances in the biggest events.

Aronimink should set up quite nicely for the two-time major champion, with Rahm still one of the game’s elite ball-strikers.

Rahm found himself right in the hunt at last year’s PGA Championship but got too greedy when trying to hunt down Scottie Scheffler, closing bogey-double-double to tumble down to a tie for eighth.

Rahm has a mixed record in the PGA Championship; in nine starts, he has three top-10s, two missed cuts and three finishes outside the top 45, but will tee off as one of the favourites once more.

3 - Xander Schauffele

A rib injury held Xander Schauffele back throughout the first three months of last season, and it felt like he was always playing catch-up from there, ultimately missing out on East Lake.

After another slow start to 2026, missing a cut at the Farmers Insurance Open and ending his streak with the most consecutive cuts made on the PGA Tour, a throne since inherited by Scottie Scheffler, Schauffele is starting to hit his stride once again.

He was third at the Players Championship, T4 at the Valspar Championship, T9 at the Masters and T12 at the RBC Heritage.

Most tellingly is Schauffele’s iron play is starting to reach its 2024 peak when he won two majors.

There have also been signs that the flat stick is warming up again, gaining strokes in seven of his last eight starts.

Schauffele has an exemplary record at Donald Ross courses. Playing four different venues, his worst finish was a T18 at the 2023 PGA Championship, while he has eight top-fives in 11 starts, including a win at the 2017 Tour Championship and a T3 at Aronimink.

No one relishes the tougher tests like Schauffele. Incredibly, the 32-year-old has been in the top 20 in 15 of his last 16 major appearances and has been in the top 10 for nine of them.

Everything seems to be lining up nicely for Schauffele to launch a serious bid at a third major.

2 - Rory McIlroy

Strangely -- certainly in hindsight -- few people talked up Rory McIlroy’s chances of a second Green Jacket going into the 2026 Masters. Defending champions typically struggled, while McIlroy’s two finishes in the seven weeks before the Masters were WD-T46.

Not exactly stellar form, but he’d played very well prior to that and had spoken about his game being in great shape.

McIlroy admitted he struggled for motivation after finally completing the career Grand Slam, but with a second Masters under his belt, the Northern Irishman looks as hungry as ever, and unlike many of his rivals, has some course form at Aronimink with his solo-fifth in 2018.

Giving a nod to this week’s course architect, McIlroy said prior to the 2024 US Open at Pinehurst: “Like most Donald Ross courses, it’s on and around the greens where I’m going to have to sort of do the most work.”

Of course, McIlroy played superbly that week, and but for two putts inside three feet, he’d have likely won a second US Open.

Aronimink won’t pose a wholly different test; undulating greens will put plenty of importance on solid iron play, while a good short game will also be needed.

Also a bonus, as per Golf Betting System, McIlroy's 10 PGA Tour victories on Bentgrass greens since 2008 is three more than anyone else has managed over that same timespan.

In the third act of his career, are we about to see McIlroy win more majors?

1 - Scottie Scheffler

It still feels like we’ve not quite seen the best Scottie Scheffler has to offer, but then perhaps we won’t until he wins again. He’s of the calibre that second place is underwhelming. He was solo second at the Masters, only defeated in a playoff at the RBC Heritage and then runner-up at the Cadillac, but those efforts were signs Scheffler is getting back to his best.

Aronimink will be a proper ball-striking test; a course that cannot be overpowered, commanding respect. We’re starting to see Scheffler’s driving and iron play improve, ranking second for SG: T2G at the Masters, third at the RBC Heritage and second at the Cadillac.

Interestingly, despite Scheffler ball-striking ‘struggles’ from the first few months of the season, his short game remained world class and has never really dipped.

Scheffler has an outstanding record in the PGA Championship, with form figures of T4-T8-MC-T2-T8-1, and it’s hard to see him not adding another impressive finish to that list this week.