In Defense of the PGA Championship’s Identity at Aronimink

Michael LoRé / mlore@bigswingmedia.news

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Variety is the spice of life. That gives it all its flavour.

So wrote William Cowper in his 1785 blank verse poem entitled “The Task.”

While that verse centuries later may serve as a motto—or justification—for some people as they change careers, residences or hairstyles, it certainly seems to be the MO—and justification?—for the PGA of America in defense of the PGA Championship, golf’s oft-overlooked major.

“Every year we play a new, different golf course: different grass, different architect, different climate, different geography,” PGA of America Chief Championships Officer Kerry Haigh said ahead of the 108th PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pa. “So the championship never favors one particular player. This week is totally different than last year (and) will be totally different than next year.

“So in that way, that’s our identity. That’s who we are.”

Including this year’s return to Aronimink, the 108 editions of the PGA Championship have been contested at 75 courses since its inaugural playing at Siwanoy Country Club in Bronxville, N.Y., in October 1916.

Next year’s tournament will be in the PGA of America’s new backyard at PGA Frisco, the first men’s major to be played in the North Texas region in over 60 years.

“What you’ll have here is obviously your quintessential parkland golf course. Next year you’re going to see a very wide-open Texas landscape,” renowned course architect Gil Hanse told me at a Rolex event at Aronimink. “From that standpoint, I don’t know if there’s a pure identity and I don’t know if that’s necessarily a bad thing. I think having some of that diversity is refreshing year in and year out.”

If anyone knows a thing or two about Aronimink and PGA Frisco, it’s Hanse. He and partner Jim Wagner led a meticulous restoration of the Donald Ross-designed track that also hosted the 1962 PGA Championship, finishing in 2017. The design duo also crafted PGA Frisco’s Fields Ranch East course, site of next year’s tournament.

“Everybody wants to put labels on everything,” Hanse said. “At the end of the day, we get great championships played at diverse venues. I think that’s a great thing for the game of golf.”

In further defense of the PGA Championship, PGA of America CEO Terry Clark along with Haigh also cited the tournament’s strength of field. Ninety-seven out of the top 100 players in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) comprised the 156-man field at Aronimink; it would have been 98 but Jake Knapp withdrew due to a left thumb sprain. For comparison, the 2026 PLAYERS Championship featured 47 of the top 50 OWGR players in its 123-man field.

While The Masters, U.S. Open and Open Championship permit amateur qualifiers, the PGA Championship is for professionals only—including 20 PGA club pros who qualify via the PGA Professional Championship.

But is that enough to separate the PGA Championship from its three major competitors, despite being 18 years older than that annual event at Augusta?

“Yet it is resolutely the runt of the major litter, which is an identity in itself, though hardly prized,” wrote Golf Channel and Golfweek contributor (and critic) Eamon Lynch.

While the PGA of America continues to find its organizational identity and consistency among a slew of leadership changes we highlighted in our inaugural newsletter on May 11, Clark declared when he came into his new position in February that he plans to prioritize “elevating our major championships and marquee events as defining stages for the game, our partners, and the communities we serve.”

As the public-facing figure of the organization, saying he was “asked by the board to help represent the business of the association” at Aronimink as PGA of America president Don Rea Jr. remains out of the spotlight following his questionable comments at the Ryder Cup, Clark has spent his first few months as CEO asking questions and assessing the situation: What works? What doesn’t? What would you want to see changed?

“I’ve done that not just inside our organization, but to players, to some of our partners, to some of our sponsors, and am really taking that in,” said the former UnitedHeath Group executive who replaced Derek Sprague after he stepped down midway through his two-year term in January. “At times I actually think people have looked at that as I’m pushing to try to change something. No, I’m trying to gather as much information and figure out what really can be better about it.”

Could that mean moving the PGA Championship from its current May date to another point in the golf calendar? Afterall, the event had been the final major of the year when it was played each August up until 2019.

What about potentially hosting the tournament outside of the United States as golf continues to grow globally?

“It’s another question that we’ve been getting a little bit this week,” Clark admitted Wednesday morning. “I don’t see that being a real focus as far as right now. It’s not something that I really looked at and discussed. I think we have a great identity, and that identity tied to those venues here, we have plenty of opportunity to establish that identity as part (of) this country.

"So I don’t look at something like that as something I’m really focused on right now. I never say never because we’re always trying to improve what we do.”

Played at Augusta National Golf Club since its inception in 1934, The Masters is golf’s only major contested at the same course each year. With Augusta as much a part of the tournament’s identity as the Green Jacket, pimento cheese sandwiches and azaleas, the other three majors promote their prestige, uniqueness and respective identities in an effort to appeal to audiences.

Each tournament and its respective host organization can only control so much like competition date, host venue, playing field, course layout, prize purse and broadcast visibility.

While all of those factors contribute to an event’s identity, ultimately, the only factor they can’t control—at least not directly—is drama. Look at last year’s major average viewership totals.

The 2025 Masters was head and shoulders above the rest of golf’s events, averaging 12.71 million viewers, with a peak of 19.5 million, as Rory McIlroy completed his long-awaited career Grand Slam. Honestly, Hollywood couldn’t have written a better script.

Somewhat similarly, the U.S. Open was buoyed by J.J. Spaun’s surprise win at Oakmont. It was also hurt by a 96-minute rain delay on Sunday, resulting in an average of 5.40 million viewers. A lack of late drama resulted in a 4% viewership decrease for the 2025 PGA Championship as Scottie Scheffler carded a five-stroke runaway win at Quail Hollow. The 2025 Open Championship had an average viewership of 4.10 million viewers, obviously impacted by the significant time difference being played in the UK.

Sex sells and so does late Sunday drama.

A variety of courses and challenges presented to the world’s best players to try to solve should be a recipe for success. The PGA of America certainly hopes so each year. Their prayers were answered this time.

“Most jam-packed leaderboard we’ve ever had here at the PGA Championship,” a reporter said to Justin Thomas after his final-round 65.

“Ever,” he replied.