At the start of the week, Aronimink Golf Club wore a benign face. Freshly groomed and decked out to host its first PGA Championship in 64 years, it presented an inviting picture. As soon as the first competitive drives echoed across the property, Aronimink shed its civility like a well-cut jacket. The course bared its teeth, transforming what many expected to be a scorable par-70 into a brutal examination of mind, mastery, and margins.
By the end of Friday’s second round, only five strokes separated the top 43 players in a leaderboard so compressed it evoked the survivalist ethos of a US Open at Shinnecock Hills. The 108th PGA Championship had become less a birdie festival and more a test of restraint, accuracy, and nerve. Aronimink rewards angles and accuracy over raw power.
