The PGA Championship has been dominated by American golfers over the past decade, but who is primed to stop that run continuing at Aronimink Golf Club this week? Each of the last 10 winners of the Wanamaker Trophy have come from the United States, with world No 1 Scottie Scheffler returning as defending champion after last year’s five-shot victory at the Quail Hollow Club.
Scheffler is the pre-tournament favourite to defend his title and register a fifth major victory in as many seasons, having followed a runner-up finish at The Masters last month by claiming second in each of his next two PGA Tour appearances.
Bryson DeChambeau has finished as runner-up at the last two PGA Championships and Xander Schauffele is challenging for a second win at the event, two years on from his maiden major title, with both likely challengers to Scheffler for major victory. Jimmy Walker (2016), Justin Thomas (2017, 2022), Brooks Koepka (2018, 2019, 2023) and Phil Mickelson (2021) have also won the PGA Championship during the 10-year streak of American success, with plenty in contention to extend that run in Pennsylvania.
Another American PGA Championship win ahead? Scheffler’s cumulative score to par in majors since the beginning of 2022 is 30 shots better than anyone else, with the 29-year-old’s dominance in recent seasons leaving him with the chance to complete the career Grand Slam next month at the US Open. Jordan Spieth can also follow Rory McIlroy into the Grand Slam club with victory this week, his 10th attempt at winning his elusive major, although he arrives outside the world’s top 50 and without a worldwide top-10 since last June.
World No 3 Cameron Young has already won The Players and the Cadillac Championship this season, while former FedExCup champion Patrick Cantlay is another showing signs of form and looking for a maiden major title.
A European winner at Aronimink? Australia’s Jason Day was the last international winner of this major, beating Spieth to victory at Whistling Straits in 2015, while McIlroy is a two-time winner of the Wanamaker Trophy and is one of just three Europeans ever to lift the trophy. McIlroy won the 2012 and 2014 editions before completing the Grand Slam at The Masters last April, ending an 11-year major drought, then defended his title last month and now hopes to become the first player since Jordan Spieth to win the first two majors of a calendar year.
