There's no telling what might happen at Aronimink tomorrow.
Here are 5 things to watch for on Sunday...
Does Rory keep the calendar-slam dream alive?
In the history of golf, no player has ever won the Grand Slam in a calendar year. The closest someone has come is the 'Tiger Slam,' when Tiger Woods won four consecutive majors and held all four trophies simultaneously – the 2000 U.S. Open, Open Championship, PGA Championship and the 2001 Masters.
With a victory on Sunday, two-time defending Masters champion Rory McIlroy – who will start the final round at 3-under and three shots behind leader Alex Smalley – has a chance to keep the calendar-slam dream alive. There’s more significance if McIlroy could win, too…
- He’d become the winningest European Major Champion all time with seven. He currently shares the honor with England’s Nick Faldo.
- He’d be the first player since Jordan Spieth in 2015 (Masters, U.S. Open) to win the season’s first two majors.
McIlroy was T-105 on the leaderboard at the end of the first round after posting a 74 (+4) on Thursday. Only four players in history have ever won a major championship after being ranked 50th or worse on the leaderboard at the end of the first round:
- Steve Jones, 1996 U.S. Open, was T-84 after R1
- Payne Stewart, 1989 PGA Championship, T-77 after R1
- Mark O'Meara, 1998 Open Championship, T-62 after R1
- John Mahaffey, 1978 PGA Championship, T-59 after R1
How will the Aronimink play on Sunday?
After two tough, cooler days, much warmer weather moved in on Saturday, the wind died down (at least in the morning) and hole locations were much more accessible, leading to a barrage of low scores.
The forecast calls for Sunday to be the hottest day of the week with temperatures creeping over 90 degrees and light winds. If the hole locations are accessible like they were on Saturday – and if the wind is down like it was Saturday morning – we could be in for a real shootout.
Smalley has recent history on his side… can he get it done Sunday?
While the PGA Championship has the highest percentage of first-time major winners (56 percent), it’s been six years since that last happened when Collin Morikawa took home the Wanamaker Trophy at TPC Harding Park.
If recent history is any indication, 54-hole leader Alex Smalley might be in store for a special Sunday and would be the first, first-time major winner at the PGA since Morikawa.
In four of the past five PGA Championships, the eventual winner was leading (either tied or outright) at the end of the third round:
Can Scottie mount a Sunday charge?
World No. 1 and defending PGA Champion Scottie Scheffler has been battling an ice-cold putter all week at Aronimink.
But at 1-under 209 through 54 holes, he’s still very much in the mix. He’ll start the final round on Sunday, five shots out of the lead. If he can overcome that deficit, it would be a first.
In each of Scheffler’s previous four major championship victories, he’s gone into the final round with the outright lead:
- 2022 Masters – led by three
- 2024 Masters – led by one
- 2025 PGA Championship – led by three
- 2025 Open Championship – led by four
Scheffler leads the PGA Tour in final-round scoring average at 67.22… he’ll need another low round on Sunday.
Will someone come from way behind to win?
In 14 of the last 15 PGA Championships, the eventual winner was either leading or within 2 strokes of the lead at the end of the third round. The exception is Justin Thomas, who came back from a 7-stroke deficit entering the final round to win at Southern Hills in 2022.
Since 1990, every winner except for Thomas in 2022 was among the top-5 entering the final round. Thomas was T-7 through three rounds that year.
Here’s a look at the top 5, which features just one major champion (Rahm) as we head into the final round:
- 1 – Alex Smalley, 6 under
- T2 – Matti Schmid, Nick Taylor, Jon Rahm, Aaron Rai, Ludvig Aberg, 4 under.
- A trio of major winners – Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Reed are tied for seventh at 3 under.
