Cameron Smith rediscovered his winning form during the opening round of the 108th PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club, adding birdies at the 10th, 13th and 16th to climb into a share of the lead. The 2022 Open champion, who has largely been out of sight on the LIV tour and had missed the cut for six consecutive majors, rolled in a long putt across the par-five 16th to join Stephan Jaeger and Xander Schauffele at three under par. His resurrection provided an early narrative on a morning when the field wrestled with a course that is already baring its teeth.
Early leaderboard tightens
Stephan Jaeger set the early pace. The 36-year-old German, who had made the cut in each of his previous PGA Championship appearances without ever finishing better than tied for 50th, birdied the 1st, 4th and 5th to become the first man to reach minus three. He extended his advantage on the 6th by pouring in a 25-footer to reach four under par, but a first bogey of the day at the long par-three 8th – all 245 yards of it – brought him back to three under alongside Schauffele and Smith.
Xander Schauffele, the 2024 champion who won his maiden major at Valhalla last year with a record 21 under par, opened with back-to-back birdies at 10 and 11 and added a third in four holes to claim a share of the lead. The American’s form is no surprise: he also won the Open Championship in July 2024, becoming the first golfer to claim two majors in the same season. Michael Brennan, making his PGA Championship debut, and Harry Hall, the 28-year-old from Cornwall who finished in the top 20 at Quail Hollow last year, trailed at two under.
Brennan, a 24-year-old from Virginia who tied for 24th at the Masters last month and won his first Tour title in Utah last October, showed composure beyond his experience. Hall birdied the 5th and 6th to join him. At the top of the board the margin was tight: three under par for Jaeger (8 holes), Schauffele (4*), and Smith (6*); two under for Brennan (8), Hall (8), Harris English (6), and Bud Cauley (6).
Escapology and erratic drives among the big names
Jordan Spieth, chasing a career Grand Slam, produced one of the day’s defining moments on the 13th. Having sent his tee shot into deep trouble down the left, he failed to reach the green and watched his second shot squirt almost straight right. Shortsided and behind a bunker, he whipped a shot over the flag to 15 feet and rolled in the par saver. Scrambling is expected to come at a premium this week, and there is nobody better than the master escapologist Spieth. He remained at level par.
Rory McIlroy started his round with an errant drive at the 10th that clattered into a tree and disappeared into thick rough. He lashed at it with great force but could only squirt a topper 100 yards down the fairway, leading to a bogey – his first at the PGA Championship in five years. The four-time major winner, who won the PGA Championship in 2012 and 2014 and was the defending champion at Valhalla in 2014, bounced back immediately with a fuss-free birdie at the 11th: tee down the middle, wedge to three feet, putt into the centre. He then drove 352 yards down the middle of the 12th, at least 30 yards farther than anyone else on the hole, but his wedge was underhit, toppling back down a ridge across the huge green, and he could only tidy up for par. He remained level.
Bryson DeChambeau, the two-time US Open champion and runner-up at the 2024 PGA Championship, endured a miserable start. After wasting a fine opening drive with a poor wedge and an underhit putt on the 10th, he overcooked his approach on the 11th, then watched his 30-foot downhill putt from the fringe catch a slope and roll 60 feet past the hole – nearly running off the fairway. That led to an inevitable bogey. His troubles continued on the 13th when he took an iron for safety only to send it into thick rough down the right. He flew the green with his second and was forced to hack out from more deep nonsense, bundling the ball to within 20 feet and dropping another stroke. By the time he headed into the back nine he was two over par, a stark contrast to the form that saw him win his second US Open in 2024.
Playing alongside DeChambeau, Ludvig Åberg made a fine birdie on the 13th after a lucky break when his errant drive settled on rough trampled down by the gallery. A wedge to 12 feet and a putt brought him back to level par. Earlier he had produced an outrageous par on the 12th, sending his second shot over the back into thick rough at the bottom of a bank, shortsided with the flag nearby and very little green to work with. He whipped the ball out, soaring high and landing soft, rolling out to kick-in distance, and his wide smile told the story. He was one over after a three-putt bogey at the 10th.
Jon Rahm and Gary Woodland also featured in the early action. Rahm, the two-time Masters champion, saw his approach disappear down a swale to the right of the 1st green and could not get his ball back up with his first chip, dropping a shot. Woodland, the popular veteran who won the US Open in 2019 and added a feelgood victory at the Houston Open a couple of months ago, was level par through his first two holes.
Aronimink’s swales and vast greens pose the real test
The course’s main defences are its many bunkers and its huge, undulating greens, which are causing the world’s best players all sorts of puzzles and problems. Aronimink, a Donald Ross design dating back to 1896 – and the venue for Gary Player’s 1962 PGA Championship win, which was the third leg of his career Grand Slam – is revealing its teeth. The large greens are particularly testing: Rory McIlroy’s underhit wedge on the 12th toppled back down a ridge, and his first putt was not much better, while Bryson DeChambeau’s putt on the 11th caught a slope and ran 60 feet past. The swales – the grassy hollows that surround many greens – are punishing approach shots that stray offline. Jon Rahm and others have already fallen victim.
Whoever wins this week will need a short game to die for, their ball on the end of a tight leash. Michael Brennan’s debut, Jordan Spieth’s scrambling artistry, and the early poise of Stephan Jaeger all underline that precision around the greens will be decisive. The overnight rain has lengthened the track a little, and it remained drizzly and cloudy for most of the morning, with a chance of more showers and light wind. The forecast for the rest of the week improves: sunny with light winds for the most part. Still, the course is not one for the faint-hearted. Rory McIlroy had described “strategy off the tee” as “pretty non-existent” on this type of layout, and Scottie Scheffler has said “you can hit it pretty far offline” and still “kind of get away with it” – but the swales and undulating greens are a different matter. Accuracy with approach shots and a deft putting touch will separate the contenders from the rest.
The tournament purse stands at $18.5 million – an increase of $1 million from the previous year – with the winner’s share set at $3.33 million. That figure dwarfs the $13,000 that Gary Player received for winning the 1962 PGA Championship at Aronimink. The LIV tour, which counts Cameron Smith among its players, offers $25 million per event, but for now Smith appears to have rediscovered the form that earned him the Claret Jug in 2022. Whether he can sustain it across Aronimink’s demanding terrain remains to be seen.
