Rory McIlroy surges into PGA Championship contention with a 66 at Aronimink

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Rory McIlroy wailed his drive on the 397-yard sixth hole and landed a beauty on the green to the delight of a roaring Aronimink crowd.

He made a birdie and kept a second straight major victory firmly in sight on a day in which several players made big moves up the leaderboard in more favorable conditions.

The pin placements, the course, nothing bothered McIlroy at Aronimink as he charged back from 105th at the end of Round 1 of the PGA Championship all the way to a share of the lead until he bogeyed 17. McIlroy finished three shots behind 54-hole leader Alex Smalley in a four-way tie for seventh at 3 under with Maverick McNealy, Xander Schauffele, and Patrick Reed on Saturday a day after he complained about the setup at Aronimink Golf Club.

“I feel like I still did enough to think I have a chance going into tomorrow,” McIlroy said.

Driving the green on a 397-yard par-4 🤯

Rory McIlroy crushed this drive @PGAChampionship pic.twitter.com/BLZq1x21xo

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 16, 2026

Who would count out McIlroy?

He won the Masters and is trying to join Ben Hogan (1953), Arnold Palmer (1960), Jack Nicklaus (1972), Tiger Woods (2002), and Jordan Spieth (2015) as the only golfers to win the first two majors of the year in the modern rotation.

The No. 2 player in the world, McIlroy was buried on the leaderboard on Thursday after he shot a 74. Only four players in history have ever won a major championship after being 50th or worse at the end of the first round.

His Round 3 was a different story. He had six birdies, 10 pars and two bogeys and shot 66.

“I’ve climbed my way out of that hole a little bit, which is, I’m proud of myself for doing that,” McIlroy said, “but there’s one more day left, and I feel like I’m — again, if I can — depending on what the guys do, be close enough to the lead, I feel like I’ve still got a good chance.”

Two long days at Aronimink produced the highest 36-hole score to par to lead the PGA Championship in 14 years. The 15 players separated by two shots made it the biggest logjam going into a weekend at a major since 2002. At one point Saturday afternoon, there were 28 players separated by two shots.

McIlroy griped about the setup at Aronimink one day earlier. He cushioned his criticism a bit on Saturday.

McIlroy might be angling for his next job as much as he is trying to win his next major. McIlroy, the only European with the career Grand Slam, noted last year he would unwind from a round by watching “The Devil Wears Prada.” That caught the attention of the filmmakers and earned him an invite to cameo in the sequel.

His Saturday night plan?

To watch the thrilling conclusion of the Batman movie, “The Dark Knight.”

Scheffler’s putter goes cold

Scottie Scheffler walked off Aronimink with his putter still in the bag, though the defending PGA Championship winner might not have been blamed had he chucked the club into the water.

His putter failed him, and cost Scheffler a major opportunity in a tournament where no standout has emerged and led to a bunched leaderboard through three rounds.

Scheffler will still be in the mix in the final round — 14 players had at least a share of the lead at some point — yet the short game failures only stretched his odds at pulling out another PGA.

A four-time major winner, Scheffler missed six putts inside 10 feet, four of them for birdie. But he made a 9-foot bogey putt on 18 for a 71.

Scheffler shot 1 over in a round where he could have grabbed a healthy lead if not for the missed putts. Scheffler followed an opening 3-under 67 with consecutive rounds of 1 over. He slipped 14 spots, into a tie for 23rd, and is 5 shots off the lead.

“If I continue to do what I’m doing and hole a few more putts, then I think I’ll be in a good spot when tomorrow ends,” Scheffler said.

Scheffler continued to get heckled by Philly sports fans, who chanted the traditional “E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles!” chant at the noted diehard Cowboys fan. He credited the crowd for creating a spirited atmosphere in the first major in the Philadelphia area since the US Open at Merion in 2013.

Just one day earlier, Scheffler said Aronimink claimed “the hardest set of pin locations that I’ve seen since I’ve been on tour, and that includes US Opens.”

He didn’t complain about the pin placement on Saturday and his moments, including a birdie at 11 that had him back to even on his round. Scheffler had more pressing worries than pins, such as putting like a major champion rather than a weekday Aronimink member.

“It’s a challenging golf course and there’s a lot of slope on the greens,” he said. “The winds were quite heavy when we were out there this afternoon, and it’s just tough.”

Favorable conditions prevail

The wind, cold and rain of the first two rounds largely gave way to warmer weather that may have helped with all the birdies.

Chris Kirk had eight — including five birdies in six holes on the front nine — on his way to a 65 and Michael Kim birdied six of his first seven holes. Justin Rose, who won at Aronimink in the 2010 AT&T National, shot a 5-under 65 to move up the leaderboard and well within striking distance of the lead.

Rose noted subtle differences in the course from one day earlier when he shot a 73 and was in jeopardy of missing the cut before holing out on 18 to make an eagle.

He said the pins were “just a bit more predictable.”

“I’ve heard Scottie [Scheffler] say it’s probably the hardest set of pins he’d seen,” Rose said. “That didn’t strike me as that being the case, but yeah, when you think about it, they were incredibly challenging.”

Serious prize money at stake

The PGA Championship raised its total prize fund this year to $20.5 million, a $1.5 million increase from last year but still third among the three American majors.

The winner’s share will be $3,690,000.

The Masters raised its total purse to $22.5 million this year, the highest payout of golf’s four majors and a $1.5 million increase from the previous year. The US Open next month and the British Open in July — typically the smallest of major purses — have not announced their plans.

The US Open had a $21.5 million purse last year, and the British Open purse was at $17 million.

Prize money in golf began spiking when Saudi-funded LIV Golf launched in 2022 with its $20 million purses and $4 million payouts. The PGA Tour now has eight “signature” events with a $20 million purse that pays $3.6 million to the winner ($4 million in three such tournaments).

The Players Championship had a $25 million purse, and the PGA Tour last year decided the FedEx Cup finale at the Tour Championship would count as official money instead of a bonus, making it a $40 million prize fund.

Terry Clark, the new CEO of the PGA of America, was asked earlier this week about staying competitive with the other majors while being fiscally responsible. He offered little along those lines except to say, “It’s not always in comparison to all of those. It’s what are the factors that make sense. We do look at it as an annual focus around how do we get at competitive purses.”

The player finishing last among the 82 players who made the cut will get $23,900. The 74 players who missed the cut, including 19 club professionals, were paid $4,300.

The PGA Championship is at Aronimink for the first time since 1962, when the total prize fund was $69,400 and Gary Player won $13,000. It also was the third-highest purse among majors then.