The 2026 PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club is set to begin, featuring a strong 156-man field. Reigning champion Scottie Scheffler is performing well but has not yet reached the top of the leaderboard.
Key points
2026 PGA Championship underway at Aronimink Golf Club
156-man field featuring top players from PGA Tour and LIV Golf
Reigning champion Scottie Scheffler not in top spot
Tournament rounds approaching with practice ongoing
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Aronimink Golf Club
2026 PGA ChampionshipScottie Scheffler
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Ted Hyman, CBS Sports
The week of festivities at the 2026 PGA Championship is already underway at Aronimink Golf Club, with practice ongoing as tournament rounds fast approach. The same question, of course, is on everyone's lips: Who are you picking to hoist the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday evening?
With an extraordinary 156-man field featuring the best PGA Tour, LIV Golf and PGA of America have to offer competing, the second major championship of the 2026 season should once again be a tremendous ride from Thursday's first round onward.
While the PGA Championship field is stacked, reigning champion Scottie Scheffler is not off to as a start as he has seen in the past. Scheffler is still playing extraordinarily well -- especially when one looks at his statistics -- but his leaderboard placement has been 2nd/T2 rather than in the top spot as he has become so accustomed.
Rory McIlroy enters fresh off winning a second straight green jacket, and while his game is on point, his driving accuracy has been rough. If the career grand slam holder is somehow able to right the long stick, he might be able to breeze through the field on his way to a third major championship in two seasons.
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson will both miss the PGA Championship as they did at the Masters while facing starkly different personal circumstances. It's the first time neither has played in a PGA Championship since Woods became a professional. There are, nevertheless, plenty of significant names in the field, with the likes of Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm itching to prove their success is not confined to another circuit, while Cameron Young and Matt Fitzpatrick aim to continue their white-hot starts to the 2026 season.
So, what is going to happen outside Philadelphia this week? Let's take a look at a full set of predictions and picks from our CBS Sports experts as we attempt to project who will win -- and what will go down -- in the second major championship of the season.
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Patrick McDonald, golf writer
Winner – Ludvig Åberg (20-1): His season up to this point feels a lot like Xander Schauffele's 2024 effort. Åberg is playing sensational golf, but the noise around a couple of failed closing attempts is drowning out the quality. Already a prodigious driver of the golf ball, the Swede is sharpening his irons by the week to go along with an improving short game.
Sleeper – Chris Gotterup (66-1): Seems a bit disrespectful for a man who has finished inside the top 25 in his last three major championships and has two wins this season. Add in the proverbial home game factor (ish), and Gotterup will be galloping up the leaderboard at Aronimink. He has the carry distance to take care of any trouble off the tee and the gumption if in the heat of the battle late.
Top 10 lock -- Scottie Scheffler: He's technically ahead of schedule compared to last season, when he ran away with this tournament. A runner-up in his last three events, Scheffler is a fast start away from potentially winning his second straight Wanamaker Trophy. It wouldn't be surprising if he did just that, while it would be shocking if he didn't at least find the top 10 by week's end.
Star who definitely won't win -- Tommy Fleetwood: He still has just one win on the PGA Tour, and that came against 29 other players. Happy to see that he got the competitive juices flowing last week at Quail Hollow, but the lack of pop in the bat compared to his peers puts a lot of pressure on his scoring clubs, which have been hit-or-miss this year.
Scottie Scheffler vs. Rory McIlroy: Love them both. How could you not? They literally finished 1-2 in the last major championship. I'll side with Scheffler for this one, as his PGA record is nearly flawless with five top-10 finishes in six appearances. McIlroy is without a top-five finish since his win in 2014 at Valhalla.
Jon Rahm vs. Bryson DeChambeau: Another major championship and another instance where Rahm is looking at me right in the face, telling me to pick him. The Spaniard got me at the Masters as I was high on his chances … and he'll get me again at the PGA Championship. DeChambeau has been a monster in this championship and may be trending towards undervalued, but Rahm is a better, more complete player.
Biggest surprise -- Stewart Cink makes the first page of the leaderboard: The recently named vice captain for the 2027 Ryder Cup, Cink comes into the PGA Championship as one of the hottest players in the world, albeit at the senior level. He still has plenty of speed with 170 mph of ball speed in the tank, and there's a confidence that he can keep up with the young bucks. He finished inside the top 30 in 2021 and 2022 -- his two most recent PGA appearances.
**Winner -- Ludvig Åberg (20-1):**This week feels like it will be a birdie-fest, and that will play into the hands of Åberg, a player who has few peers when it comes to putting birdies on the card. His ball-striking is back to an elite level, his short game is excellent, and he's among the best at marrying distance and accuracy off the tee. The putter isn't the absolute strong suit of his game, but it's also been a relative positive this year. As for form, since the start of March, he's played in six events, finishing in the top eight on five occasions with a T21 at the Masters. Only a handful of players have been that consistently good this year, and he's due to finally cross the finish line with a big win.
Sleeper -- Rickie Fowler (69-1): Fowler has ripped off three straight top 10s in signature events and has a really good ball-striking and putting profile this season. That has me bullish on his potential this week, and while we talk about all the young guys that have their sights set on a first major title, wouldn't it be incredible if Rickie finally got into the major champion club.
Top 10 lock -- Cameron Young: Young has six top 10s in his last seven starts, the only blemish on that record a T25 at RBC Heritage -- and Hilton Head is the polar opposite of Aronimink when it comes to openness. Young should be a great fit, largely because he's a fit just about anywhere the way he's playing right now, and it's hard to imagine him not in the mix come Sunday.
Star who definitely won't win -- Bryson DeChambeau: This has almost nothing to do with the current state of LIV Golf and everything to do with the fact that the last time we saw DeChambeau in a major championship, he was still struggling with all the same things that have derailed his chances at adding a third major since his 2025 U.S. Open win. The short game is a serious concern right now, as evidenced by his two bunker catastrophes at the Masters. On greens with tons of movement, that issue could cost him shots again this week. On top of that, the distance control with the irons is always a lingering doubt, and as the pressure ratchets up on the weekend, that only gets dicier.
Scottie Scheffler vs. Rory McIlroy: Scheffler has been a machine of late (again), and his ability to control distance and put himself in the right section of these tricky greens is going to be a huge advantage over 72 holes. I hope we finally get a true Scottie-Rory duel -- the Masters didn't really count, even though they finished 1-2. I'll take Scheffler even with his slow starts.
Jon Rahm vs. Bryson DeChambeau: I noted my concerns with Bryson above. While I'm not entirely sold that we're going to get the absolute best from Rahm this week, he'll look at this tournament as a respite from the LIV Golf nonsense and a chance to prove himself on the major stage again.
Surprise prediction -- First-time major winner this week: Will it be Åberg, Young, Fowler, Fleetwood, Russell Henley or someone else? Either way, this is going to be a wide-open tournament largely because the scoring will be so good. There will be a chance to get hot and take this thing over, and with so many non-major winners in good form right now, we'll get someone fresh hoisting the Wanamaker on Sunday.
Who will win the 2026 PGA Championship, and which longshots will stun the golfing world?Visit SportsLine now to see the projected leaderboard, all from the model that's nailed 17 golf majors heading into the weekend, including the past five Masters, and find out.
