An early theme emerging from conversations at Aronimink Golf Club ahead of this week’s US PGA Championship has centred on the importance of finding the right sections of the greens.
The US PGA Championship returns here for only the second time in its history, more than 60 years after Gary Player’s victory, and that relative unfamiliarity has left many in the field still learning its nuances. The course has staged PGA TOUR events three times in the past 16 years — in 2010, 2011 and 2018 — the latter coming after Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner completed a restoration of Donald Ross’s original design. Some players, including Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy, have prior experience here, but for many others it's about working the course out in practice.
With different conditions forecast from the wet weather experienced in 2018, there is broad agreement that this will be an entirely different test. And although opinions differ on how much the course demands from the tee, there is a clear consensus among players on the biggest talking point: find the wrong sections of these greens and Aronimink GC can quickly become a severe test.
McIlroy: Greens will dictate the test
Masters champion Rory McIlroy, who finished fifth at Aronimink GC during the 2018 BMW Championship, got an early look during a one day scouting trip a couple of weeks ago and believes the course’s primary challenge lies around the greens.
“We played here back in 2018 at the BMW,” McIlroy recalled during his Tuesday press conference. “I don't think the course necessarily played the way it will play this week. It was very wet that week. It looks like there's going to be a little bit of rain Thursday night into Friday morning.
“For the most part, it should be a bit drier, which really brings out the character of the greens. The greens seem to be the big defence and the big talking point of the golf course.
“Yeah, it reminds me, we played Philly Cricket Club last year for a PGA TOUR event. It reminds me a little of that, very wide playing corridors. Still got to get the ball on the fairway. The rough is sort of hit-and-miss, but you can get some bad lies. They can really tuck the pins away with some of these slopes on the greens and just really being aware of that.
“I think from 2018 to then playing a couple weeks ago... I don't know if I'd forgotten or the course didn't play this way, but if you get yourself above the hole or you start to short-side yourself, you can get yourself in some tricky spots.
“It's a course where you can be super aggressive off the tee, and then there's a little more strategy and a little more thought going into the greens.
“The greens are the main focus this week, and I think getting yourself in the right sections of the greens, making sure you leave yourself below the hole for the most part. That's the key this week.”
Rose: Preparation centres on the nuances of the greens
Justin Rose, who won here in 2010 and lost in a play-off at Aronimink in 2018, said much of his early work had focused on reacquainting himself with the subtleties of the putting surfaces, which he expects to be central to how the championship unfolds.
So important, that instead of playing he just walked the course with a wedge and a putter on Tuesday.
“Always around the greens,” he told media.
“The greens are very slopey here, obviously just familiarising yourself with potential pin placements, the angles that you need to kind of approach those pin placements from. Where you can and can't miss or where you can and can't get the ball up-and-down from. So just sort of really kind of remembering the nuance of certain pin placements. Some greens the four pins are pretty basic, hit it in the middle of the green you've got pretty much good angles towards pins, but there's just other holes where there's just maybe one or two characteristics that make a big difference on how you approach a certain pin placement.
"So that's kind of what I've been trying to remember really today. And that's why I chose to walk the course today with a wedge and putter more than I did actually playing the course. Tomorrow I'm going to go play the back nine. I think the back nine's a much sterner test. It's obviously been lengthened out a lot. I feel like the front nine is where you've got to go and make your score. So I wanted to pay a lot of attention to my work around the greens and all the angles to certain pins today on the front nine. But tomorrow definitely take the clubs out on the back nine, because I think it's more of a ball-striking test on the back nine.”
As for his opinions on it being less demanding from the tee, Rose said that with the rough up for the championship, that shot still does call for some respect.
“They have really worked hard I believe from what (caddie) Fooch tells me anyway, to kind of get the rough growing. It's a different type of rough actually it's a very thick rough it's almost like a Kikuyu. It feels like very, it's like a very dense rooty type of grass. So, yeah, I think there's a little bit of respect needed to make sure you are hitting the fairways. The fairways are generous, but you still need to be on them."
Scheffler: Conditions will shape the challenge
World Number One Scottie Scheffler had not long turned professional the last time the PGA TOUR visited Aronimink, and now arrives here for the first time as defending champion.
He believe's this week's test will be heavily influenced by firmness, with his early impressions suggesting the course becomes far more exacting when players are unable to hold the fairways.
“I think a lot of it is going to be determined by the conditions," he said. "Right now the fairways are pretty firm. They're hard to hold. The rough is thick enough to where if you're in the rough trying to approach these greens, with the pitch and the slope on them, it's going to be a pretty awesome test if the golf course stays this way.
“If the golf course gets soft, then all of a sudden if it doesn't matter if you hit the fairway or not, then you can kind of just bomb it off the tee and gouge it out of the rough and it becomes a lot easier, I think.
“But if the fairways stay firm like they are and guys have to control their golf ball into these greens from the fairway, then it becomes a lot more challenging to spin it out of this rough and get the ball close to some of these pins.”
Fitzpatrick: Severe green complexes will be the defence
Adding to that agreement is World Number Four Matt Fitzpatrick, a three-time winner this season who is also making his first appearance at Aronimink.
Like the others, his early assessment is that green complexes look set to provide the sternest challenge this week, with pin positions likely to have a major influence on how the course can be set up.
“It will be the green complexes, yeah, for sure," he said. "They are very severe in spots. It will be interesting to see where obviously the pins get put. There’s certainly two or three holes where you can’t have more than four pins.
“So, you know, that’s going to be interesting for those ones, and I think the green complexes is the biggest thing. I think I look at the golf course that I just played, and it definitely favours length off the tee because a lot of the bunkers will be taken out of play.
“So I think, for me, the greens are going to be the defence for the week.”
Ayora: Fast, sloping greens demand smart golf
Making his US PGA Championship debut, Angel Ayora described Aronimink as a course that rewards smart decision-making, with fast, sloping greens and thick rough punishing anything slightly out of position.
“The golf course is in amazing condition," he said of his first impressions.
"The toughest thing I think is going to be the greens, they are very slopey and fast. You can hit a very good shot and still have a crazy putt so you have to be very smart knowing where to play and also lucky with the bounces. From the tee it’s not easy because the rough is very thick but you can have a good lie in the rough — also a bad lie and have to lay up. The greens are the most difficult thing. I think the course suits my game.”
Schauffele: Aronimink rewards discipline on the greens
Xander Schauffele, the 2024 US PGA Champion, said while all the above is true, players can make the course as easy or difficult as they choose.
“You can make it as easy or difficult on yourself as you’d like," he said. "I think, if you get aggressive to certain pins and short-side yourself, you’re going to hit it to 20 or 30 feet at best, just based on how the surface, how fast and firm it is and how much it runs away from you.
“But at the same time, there’s certain pockets where you can — little fingers on the greens — where you can hit a really good shot and get rewarded for it, depending on firmness obviously.
“The greens are definitely the thing to prepare for for this tournament. I think it will be fun to watch.”
