PGA Championship Gets Underway at Aronimink With Wild Opening

The 108th PGA Championship started on Thursday at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, and it opened the way majors sometimes do — with chaos. Club pro Braden Shattuck pulled his opening drive toward the fence line, hit a provisional, then found out his first ball had landed just inside. He took an unplayable, hacked out of the rough, and walked away with a double bogey.

The course hasn’t hosted a major since 1962. Recent work added bunkers and took out trees, and overnight rain has softened the ground, which could keep scores lower than expected for at least the first round.

The big names on the leaderboard to watch: Rory McIlroy, who won the Masters and is now one win away from a calendar grand slam, and Jordan Spieth, who needs a PGA Championship to join the six players who have held all four majors. World number one Scottie Scheffler is also in the field. Whether the course holds up to those storylines is another question.