Scottie Scheffler part of 7-way tie
for the lead at PGA Championship
[May 15, 2026]
By DOUG FERGUSON
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) — Scottie Scheffler missed a 4-foot putt
and laughed. Jon Rahm angrily swung his club after an errant shot
and the grass divot hit a volunteer in the face. Garrick Higgo was
10 seconds late to the first tee and penalized two shots before he
even swung a club.
Aronimink waited 64 years to host another PGA Championship and made
up for lost time in a big way Thursday, including the biggest logjam
in a major championship since 1969.
When the long day was over, most predictable was seeing Scheffler's
name atop the leaderboard at 3-under 67, along with six other
players. Another surprise: It's the first time the world's No. 1
player has at least a share of the lead after 18 holes of a major.
Scheffler wasn't buying it.
“Is it a really a lead when you're tied with like six guys?” he told
ESPN with a laugh.
Scheffler took advantage of two long birdie putts and one big break
on the 17th hole for his lowest start to a tournament since January.
He was tied with six others — former PGA champion Martin Kaymer
perhaps the most surprising — on a tough day in the Philadelphia
suburbs.
Joining them at 67 were Aldrich Potgieter, Stephan Jaeger, Min Woo
Lee, Ryo Hisatsune and Alex Smalley. The seven-way tie was the
largest since nine players shared the lead in the 1969 PGA
Championship at NCR Country Club in Dayton, Ohio.
“At this moment, it’s anybody’s tournament,” Scheffler said. Indeed,
48 players were within three shots of the lead. The difference
between missing the cut and being part of the lead was six shots.
And to think it could have been eight players. Higgo had a 69, which
included a two-shot penalty before he even hit a shot for being 10
seconds late to the tee for his group's starting time.
Masters champion Rory McIlroy bogeyed his last four holes for a 74
that sent him to the practice range for most of the afternoon.
Not since Oakland Hills in 2008 — Jeev Milkha Singh and Robert
Karlsson at 2-under 68 — has the low score to par after the first
round of the PGA Championship been worse than 3 under. Aronimink
with its severely sloped greens, fast fairways and plenty of wind
that shooed away morning clouds was every bit a major challenge.
Scheffler has struggled with opening rounds for most of the year
since opening with a 63 in his season debut at The American Express,
his only victory. But this was quality work. He missed only one
fairway, which cost him one of his two bogeys on the day.
“Definitely the best start I’ve gotten off to this year, maybe
besides American Express,” Scheffler said. “Your scores are
definitely going to be lower if you hit the ball on the fairway, but
it’s still really, really difficult to make birdies.”
He made one from just inside 40 feet on the par-4 seventh, and
another birdie from just inside 30 feet on the par-4 10th. And even
the No. 1 player in the world needed a little help.
Scheffler was in the thick collar of rough to the right of the par-3
17th, facing a chip over a ridge and down toward the hole. But his
golf ball was close enough to a sprinkler cap that he was given free
relief, dropped on the fringe and putted it to close range for a
par.
[to top of second column] |
Scottie Scheffler chips onto the ninth green during the first round
of the PGA Championship golf tournament at Aronimink Golf Club,
Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Newtown Square, PA. (AP Photo/Carolyn
Kaster)
Kaymer won the PGA Championship in 2010 at
Whistling Straits, giving him a lifetime exemption. Kaymer joined
LIV Golf in 2022 and has yet to finish in the top 10 in the few
European tour events he has played since then. He is No. 1,160 in
the world ranking. He hasn't been in the top 10 after one round of
any major since the 2020 PGA Championship.
During the champions dinner on Tuesday, he said one PGA of America
officer asked the German if he planned to play this week.
“I said, ‘Yeah, that’s why I’m here. I’m not flying from Europe to
here to have a New York strip with you guys, you know?’ Of course,
I'm playing. And that really motivated me.”
Patrick Reed was the only player who made it around Aronimink
without a bogey, his two birdies giving him a 68 and in the large
group with Xander Schauffele and Shane Lowry, who played the two par
5s in 3 under.
Jordan Spieth, lacking only the PGA Championship for the career
Grand Slam, bogeyed two of his last three holes — and did not birdie
the par-5 ninth, the easiest hole at Aronimink — to join the group
at 69 that included Brooks Koepka, Rahm and Justin Thomas.
“Just didn’t quite finish the way I wanted to the last three holes,
but under par was a good score,” Spieth said. “It was blowing really
hard, and it was cold this morning. The course played very, very
difficult. It was a good start. I’m going to need to improve on it,
I think, each day.”
Rahm was headed for another rough start in a major until he holed
out for eagle from the 11th fairway, chipped in for birdie on the
tough par-3 eighth and shot 69. He was told some people thought
scoring would be better in the morning. This surprised him.
“People thought it would be lower?” he replied. “Have you been out
there? Have you seen this course?”
McIlroy had the toughest finish. He struggled out of the damp, dense
rough. He struggled on the greens. He closed with four straight
bogeys and described his round in one word that translates loosely
to doo-doo.
No one struggled quite like Bryson DeChambeau, who didn’t make a
birdie until he ended on the par-5 ninth. That kept him from
matching his highest score in the PGA Championship. He shot 76 and
now has to work toward avoiding a second straight missed cut in a
major.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
