We live in a golf world right now where the two top-ranked players have taken a back seat to two players even hotter than they are entering this week’s PGA Championship at Aronimink.
This makes the season’s second major championship a must-watch.
Scottie Scheffler, the reigning world No. 1 for the past three years and the defending PGA champion, and Rory McIlroy, ranked No. 2 and fresh off winning his second consecutive Masters, surely are two of the favorites to hoist the Wanamaker Trophy.
But it’s Matthew Fitzpatrick and Cameron Young who enter the season’s second major championship as the game’s hottest players.
Fitzpatrick has won three times this year and Young has won twice — first at the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, where he defeated Fitzpatrick on the 72nd hole, then two weeks ago at Doral, where he dusted the field by six shots, with Scheffler the runner-up.
“If you had to put one word over both of those players, it’s ‘belief,’” Dottie Pepper, the former LPGA star and current CBS lead on-course reporter, said of Young and Fitzpatrick this week.
“They both now believe they can get it done in the most difficult of circumstances. To have those two not [in contention] at Aronimink would be shocking.”
Trevor Immelman, lead CBS analyst, said he felt this run Young is on “feels like it’s been coming for a long time.’’
“Scottie and Rory have been dominating the sport for the last handful of years and have won a ton of times,’’ he said. “But I put Cam Young — even though he’s got just three wins now on the PGA Tour — on that same level. That’s how much respect I have for his ability and talent. Now that he has that extra intangible of confidence and self-belief, he’s going to be a real problem for these other guys over the next few years.
“Matt Fitzpatrick is a major champion. … He knows exactly what it takes. Both of these guys are going to be coming into this PGA Championship on the same level with Scottie and Rory as guys you’ve really got to watch.”
Young’s world ranking has elevated to No. 3, while Fitzpatrick is No. 4.
“Those world rankings are based in the past,’’ Young said. “It’s a good indicator of how you’ve played recently or whatever it is, but that No. 3 next to my name in the World Ranking doesn’t give me one thing this week [and] doesn’t give me one thing next week.’’
Another compelling element to this PGA is the group of LIV Golf players in the field — 11 in all, including Dustin Johnson, who was given a special exemption into the field and will play in his 69th consecutive major.
“I still feel like I’m one of the best players in the world,’’ Johnson told reporters last week, ignoring the fact that his world ranking has plummeted to 468th.
Two LIV players who didn’t need a special exemption and are among the favorites to win are Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm. In the past five PGA Championships DeChambeau has played, he has two ties for fourth and runner-up finishes in 2024 and 2025. Rahm finished tied for eighth at last year’s PGA.
One former LIV player and now again a PGA Tour member, Brooks Koepka, is someone to watch. He’s won the PGA three times — in 2018, 2019 and 2023.
Then, of course, there’s the charm of the 20 PGA club pros in the field — highlighted by Michael Block, who was the co-star of the ’23 PGA along with Koepka, finishing in a tie for 15th.
As for the world No. 1, Scheffler has had a weird year. He won his first event, at the American Express, and has since been victimized by slow starts.
He opened with a 73 at the Waste Management and finished tied for third. He opened with 72 at Pebble Beach and finished tied for fourth. He opened with a 74 at the Genesis and finished tied for 12th.
At the Masters, he shot 70 in the first round and finished runner-up. Two weeks ago at Doral, he shot 71 in the first round and finished second to Young.
Scheffler seems like he’s on the cusp of finding the form that brought him seven wins in 2024 and six last year.
“Sometimes in golf, it’s a hard sport,’’ Scheffler said. “Sometimes the bounces go your way and other times they don’t go your way. Sometimes you’re able to build some positive momentum, and I think at times in my career I’ve been able to really feed off of that.’’
When he won last year’s PGA, the usually stoic Scheffler showed uncharacteristic high emotions on the 72nd green celebrating with his caddie, Ted Scott.
“I think sometimes people don’t have a great understanding of what it takes in order to be in those positions,’’ Scheffler said. “For me to have a chance to win the PGA Championship, it is quite literally a lifetime of work and sacrifice and dedication to a sport to have a chance to win just one tournament.
“I always have those feelings when you’re able to win tournaments just because no matter what tournament it is, it’s a lifetime of work in order to achieve something like that. Sometimes I show it and other times I don’t. But the feeling is always there.’’
