Scheffler Joins Leaders at Aronimink — Golf Leaderboard
Scottie Scheffler joined the leaders on the golf leaderboard Thursday at Aronimink after putting beautifully in the first round of the PGA Championship. Two-over was a slightly better than average score, and anyone who broke par could count it as a good day.
Scheffler at Aronimink
Scheffler’s start matters because he is 7/4 to defend his title and move on to five majors. He was the one player in the group who turned a difficult opening round into a share of the lead, and he did it on a course that was not giving away much.
Aronimink had been described before play as a venue that might suit the modern game, but Thursday showed something closer to survival than ease. The course was scrapping for every opportunity, and the early scoring reflected that.
Koepka, Niemann, Cantlay
Brooks Koepka and Joaquin Niemann both broke par in the opening round, while Patrick Cantlay struck the ball well without getting the reward the shotmaking deserved. Koepka led the field in strokes-gained ball-striking among the early starters, Niemann ranked fifth, and Cantlay was eighth.
That split told the story of the day. Clean contact alone was not enough; players still had to make something happen on the greens if they wanted to separate from the pack. Koepka knows that better than most, having won the PGA Championship in 2018, 2019 and 2023.
Friday Three-Ball Bets
Friday’s round-two betting cards leaned on Russell Henley, Matti Schmid and Taylor Pendrith in a 1pt treble at 9/2, with Day, N Hojgaard and Rahm in a 1pt trixie. Henley also drew support against JT Poston, with the pair separated by one shot after Thursday and Henley rated 60 places ahead of him in the DataGolf rankings.
Schmid’s first-round work was more decisive. He beat Austin Smotherman by three strokes and Timothy Wiseman by five, while Smotherman had to lean on his putter to stay close. The numbers from the opening day leave little margin for error, and Aronimink has already asked for more than clean ball-striking alone.
