The 2026 PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club is shaping up with a 156-player field. Notable past champions like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are eligible but may not participate.
Key points
2026 PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club
156-player field is forming
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson eligible but uncertain
With less than weeks until the 2026 PGA Championship begins at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pa., the full 156-player field for the second menâs major of the year is starting to come into focus.
The PGA of America will release its preliminary field next week, filling in player names for several of its 15 eligibility criteria (see below). Past PGA champions receive lifetime exemptions to play in the event, although itâs unclear whether some of them will join the field or not. Specifically, both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are eligible, but both recently skipped playing at the Masters due to personal reasons.
Major winners in the last five years and the Players champ for the last three have all clinched spots, as have players who won official PGA Tour events since last yearâs PGA (winners this week and next also can earn their way into the major). And the 20 club professionals spots are now locked in after the conclusion of the PGA Professional Championship at Bandon Dunes, won by Jesse Droemer.
Meanwhile, 70 players will earn exemptions through the PGA Championship points list, which is determined based on official money earned in PGA Tour events from last yearâs PGA through this weekâs Cadillac Championship. (This is why you won't see players like Hideki Matsuyama and Jordan Spieth listed yet, but they will be in the field thanks to being secure in this category when it becomes official next week.)
Whatâs uncertain is who the PGA of America will extend invitations to under eligibility criteria No. 14. Traditionally, tournament officials have invited players inside the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking who otherwise havenât qualified. How much farther past 100 might they go, however, is an open question. Last year, Rickie Fowler got an invite while sitting 125th on the OWGR. And LIV Golf players have gotten invites despite being well outside the top 100.
Before the PGA of Americaâs announcement next week, weâve compiled an unofficial list of the players who have clinched invites based on the eligibility criteria to date. Whether all of these players compete is, as mentioned earlier, unclear, but for the time being this is everybody who is eligible. Weâll update this list next week when the PGA of America makes things official.
Who are the eligible players for the 2026 PGA Championship?
Eligible players include past PGA champions, major winners from the last five years, and players who have won official PGA Tour events since last year's PGA.
When will the full field for the 2026 PGA Championship be announced?
The preliminary field will be released next week by the PGA of America.
How are players earning exemptions for the 2026 PGA Championship?
Players earn exemptions through the PGA Championship points list based on official money earned in PGA Tour events, as well as through specific eligibility criteria.
Will Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson play in the 2026 PGA Championship?
Both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are eligible to play, but their participation is uncertain as they recently skipped the Masters due to personal reasons.
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Aronimink is an object lesson in architectural evolution. After Donald Ross completed his design in 1928, he proclaimed, âI intended to make this my masterpiece.â That didnât keep club members from bringing in William Gordon in the 1950s to eliminate out-of-play fairway bunkers and move other bunkers closer to greens. The course was later revamped by Dick Wilson, George Fazio and Robert Trent Jones. In the 1990s and into the 2000s, Ron Prichard, one of the professionâs original restoration specialists, began returning Aronimink back to Rossâ conception based on the architectâs drawings and field diagrams. But there was always a discrepancy between what Ross drew in plans and what was actually built in 1928. A more recent renovation by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner, who live nearby, has put the courseâs architecture more in line with what aerial photographs depict of the early design, particularly the bunkering that might have been imagined as larger in scale but built in smaller, more scatter-shot formations. View Course PGA Championship Field
2: Winners of the last five Masters (2022â2026).
3: Winners of the last five U.S. Opens (2021â2025).
4: Winners of the last five Open Championships (2021-2025).
5: Winners of the last three the Players Championships (2024â2026).
6: The top 3 on the International Federation Official World Golf Ranking List as of April 27, 2026.
7: Winner of the 2025 & 2026 Senior PGA Championship.
8: The top 15 finishers and ties from the 2025 PGA Championship.
9: The top 20 finishers from the 2026 PGA Professional Championship.
10: The top 70 players who are eligible and have earned the most PGA Championship Points from the 2025 Truist Championship and the 2025 ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic through the 2026 Miami Championship (ending May 3, 2026).
11: Playing members of the last-named U.S. and European Ryder Cup teams (2025).
12: Winners of PGA TOUR co-sponsored or approved tournaments, whose victories are considered official, from the 2025 Charles Schwab Challenge through the 2026 Truist Championship and the 2026 ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic.
13: The top 3 finishers on the 2026 DP World Tour Asian Swing Rankings through May 3, 2026.
14: The PGA of America reserves the right to invite additional players not included in the categories listed above.
15: If necessary to complete the field, those players beyond the top 70 players who are eligible and who have earned the most PGA Championship Points from the 2025 Truist Championship and the 2025 ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic through the 2026 Miami Championship (ending May 3, 2026), in order of their position on such list.