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The PGA Championship at Aronimink features challenging pin locations that are testing the limits of professional golfers. Players like Scottie Scheffler question the fairness of these placements in relation to the game's difficulty.
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The 'dicey' pin locations at the PGA Championship are pushing the pros to the edge. But are they fair?Getty Images
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. â Major championships are supposed to be difficult. The mental examination required to hoist one of golfâs four prizes is supposed to be grueling and exacting. The challenge for tournament organizers is that itâs also supposed to be fair.
The question is: Whereâs the line? And have we found it during the first two rounds of the 2026 PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club?
âI love hard tests of golf, but itâs also the hardest game in the world, and weâre trying to make it harder, and thereâs different ways you can do that,â World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler said after his second round on Friday, mulling where that line sits. âYou can do that on a golf course like this where, I mean, I truly believe they could have the winning score be whatever they want it to be. It could be over par if they want it to be, just based purely upon pin locations. Is that the best test? Who knows. Itâs a different test.â
Entering the week, there was talk that the worldâs best would pulverize the Donald Ross gem on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Rory McIlroy bemoaned the ânonexistentâ driver strategy required to dissect the course. The assumption was that low scores would be in the forecast.
Instead, Kerry Haigh and the PGA of America gave Scheffler, McIlroy and the rest of golfâs stars a heavy dose of diabolical pin locations, many set on spines or paces from severe slopes. Friday morning also brought winds gusting up to 30 miles per hour, plus firming greens. That combination led to several stars exiting the PGA Championship on Friday afternoon after being battered by an opponent that was expected to wilt. Even those who were lucky enough to book a weekend tee time walked off the course looking shellshocked, having spent hours trying to decide how best to attack the near-unattackable.
âMost of the pins today were, I mean, kind of absurd,â Scheffler said after posting 2 under through 36 holes. âThey were just so far into the areas where we thought the pins were going to be, â like the one on 14 was probably the hardest pin that Iâve seen in a long time, just because, I mean, thereâs literally just like a spine and theyâre like, âOh, weâll just put the pin right on top of it.â And youâre like, âAll right, well, Iâll see what I can do.â And just you know, just challenging.
The pin locations at the 2026 PGA Championship are described as 'dicey,' making the course particularly challenging for players.
Players, including World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, have expressed concerns about the fairness of the pin placements and their impact on scoring.
Scottie Scheffler believes the pin locations could lead to a winning score over par, questioning whether this represents the best test of golf.
Fairness is crucial in major championships to ensure that the competition tests players' skills without being excessively punitive due to course setup.
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âThis is the hardest set of pin locations that Iâve seen since Iâve been on tour, and that includes U.S. Opens, that includes Oakmont.â
Shane Lowry fired a second-round 76 to fall on the cut line at 4 over par. The 2019 Open Champion chuckled at how tough the pins were on the heavily sloped greens at Aronimink. Lowry made it clear: he was not âmoaningâ about a hard setup. He has seen plenty of tricky pins before. But their relentlessness at Aronimink was unusual. He called a left pin on No. 5 at Augusta National âborderline,â for instance, but noted that Augusta normally follows that pin by putting the pin at No. 6 in the bowl. Thereâs no let-up so far this week at Aronimink.
âThe people in the grandstands have no idea how difficult it is out there,â Lowry told several reporters while chuckling. âLike, I just got to the 10th hole today, and I was like, âOh my God.â By the way, itâs a really tough hole. Itâs not like itâs a wedge hole. Itâs a really tough hole, and with that pin position, itâs like, I donât know. I donât know. This is a great golf course. Thereâs no point in trying to trick it up.
âThere wasnât one pin in a bowl out there today. I felt like every pin was on the bonnet of a car.â
Lowry rubbed his face and said he was just hoping he got a weekend tee time to get two more cracks at the golden-age design.
âIâve never had so many 15-footers that I felt like I could putt off the green, genuinely,â Lowry said. âEvery putt, every time I hit a good shot in the pin was like on a crown, kind of up and over, into the grain, down grain. So tricky, with gusts up to 20 miles per hour. I havenât had that since Pinehurst. Thatâs what it feels like when youâre at Pinehurst.â
Next came Patrick Reed, who shot 2 over on Friday and will make the weekend at even par. It was a day in which Reed didnât have his best, and his weaknesses were exposed by an exacting setup that demanded control.
âThe pins are brutal,â Reed told GOLF and the Philadelphia Inquirer after his round. âThereâs none in bowls. Thereâs only crowns here and they put every pin on a crown. Couple of the pins are dicey to say the least, but at the same time, itâs kind of one of those were you kind of expect it to be that way.â
Reed jabbed the par-3 eighth hole, which played at 243 yards in Round 1 and caused play to grind to a halt, calling it a âdumb hole.â But long par-3 aside, Reed felt the first 36 holes were major championship quality. The test is as itâs supposed to be. If you hit a great shot, the reward is there. Good wonât get it done.
âPin locations are hard, but if you hit a quality iron shot, you have a chance to get it close,â Reed said
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That was the overwhelming sentiment from players on Friday at Aronimink. The pin locations are on the edge, yes. They are demanding. But if you pull off the shot required, you can still score. You just must be precise. There is almost no room for error.
âIâm going to try to answer this properly. I donât think itâs unfair,â Chris Gotterup, who shot 5 under on Friday, said. âFourteen today is probably aggressive, I will say. Youâre hitting a 4-iron to a 10-foot circle, and if it doesnât go there, itâs off the green, and if you hit it 40 feet left, you have a very hard two-putt. [Robert MacIntyre] made a birdie in my group, and he hit a great shot. So is it unfair, probably not.â
Scheffler played his first two rounds with Justin Rose and Matthew Fitzpatrick. Scheffler said he asked both his caddie, Ted Scott, and Roseâs caddie, Mark Fulcher, if they had ever seen pins like this before. They both said that only Shinnecock, which hosts the U.S. Open next month, measures up. Even last yearâs U.S. Open host, Oakmont, isnât at this level because the slopes on those greens are different than how Ross designed those at Aronimink.
âItâs different in a sense on this golf course, because Oakmont, their greens are extremely severe, but theyâre extremely severe in one direction,â Scheffler said. âHere, itâs like the green may slope all this way [gestures right to left] and then we put the pin down here {points on top of slope] and then thereâs also a slope this way [gestures left to right]. And like itâs not as, how would you say, natural to the slopes that are there. Thereâs a bit more, I think, thatâs manufactured into the greens, and itâs just very difficult.
âItâs difficult to get the ball close to the hole. Itâs difficult to hole putts, especially when you have big slopes and wind, and I think thatâs why you see the scores so close to par.â
Reed did note one silver lining as he walked to the parking lot and prepared to mount a weekend charge in the affluent Philadelphia suburb of Newtown Square. The pin locations should, in theory, get easier.
âI feel like they knew what pins were going to be really, really dicey and they got those out of the way when the greens were the softest,â Reed said.
For those who survived to make the weekend, thatâs something to hope for.
The post âKind of absurd:â Aroniminkâs âdiceyâ pin locations pushing pros to the edge at PGA appeared first on Golf.