The 108th US PGA Championship gets under way on Thursday at Aronimink Golf Club in Pennsylvania, with Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau among the early names on the tee sheet. McIlroy goes out at 13:40 BST from the 10th tee with Jon Rahm and Jordan Spieth, while Scheffler begins his title defense at 19:05 alongside Matt Fitzpatrick and Justin Rose.
McIlroy arrives with momentum from last month, when he defended his Masters title, and with the memory of his 2012 PGA victory at Kiawah Island, South Carolina, where he won by a record eight-stroke margin. He and Rahm were Ryder Cup team-mates in a victory over the United States at Bethpage last September, a pairing that now turns into a major-championship grouping under the spotlight at Aronimink.
The early schedule also sends Alex Fitzpatrick out in the first group of the tournament at 11:45 with Braden Shattuck and Ben Griffin. DeChambeau follows at 13:18 with Rickie Fowler and Ludvig Aberg, before Tommy Fleetwood tees off at 18:45 with Robert MacIntyre and Chris Gotterup.
For Scheffler, the task is straightforward but demanding: defend the title he won a year ago and do it against a field that includes McIlroy, who has already shown this season that he can close out the biggest prizes. That kind of form is why Thursday matters more than a ceremonial start list. It sets up the week’s central question without answering it — whether the reigning champion can hold off a group of players who arrive with recent major form and familiar pressure.
What follows on Thursday will shape the championship quickly. McIlroy is chasing a second PGA title and a first since 2012, Scheffler is trying to stay on top, and the first round will begin with the kind of marquee pairings that can turn an opening day into the pulse of the whole tournament.
