Scottie Scheffler described the pin locations at the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club as the hardest he has seen on tour, including comparisons to U.S. Opens and courses like Oakmont and Shinnecock [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. "This is the hardest set of pin locations that I’ve seen since I’ve been on tour," Scheffler said, calling many pins "absurd," with placements on steep slopes and spines that made it challenging to get close and hole putts [1, 2, 5]. He called one pin placement “one of the craziest pins I’ve seen,” likening it to a microphone-shaped high point [5].
The difficult pin placements, combined with gusty winds reaching up to 20 mph, led to slow rounds often exceeding five hours, affecting the pace of play, especially on the back nine where shared tee boxes and crossing paths contributed to delays [1, 2, 3, 5, 6]. Scheffler shot a 1-over-par 71 in the second round on May 15, standing at 2-under 138 after 36 holes amid the tough hole placements [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].
Other players voiced concerns about the setup. Rory McIlroy called the overall PGA Championship setup "not-great," citing the bunched leaderboard caused by the difficult pin locations [6]. Shane Lowry criticized the Aronimink course arrangement as "pretty poorly" set up, saying "the first two days' setups were wrong" and it put players under undue pressure [7]. Lowry, tied for 44th after the third round, said, "when you see the best players in the world struggling from 10 feet, you know that there’s something wrong somewhere" [7].
While many acknowledged the pin placements were extremely difficult, there was debate over whether the layout was a fair test or poorly executed, leading to player frustration and slow play [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].
The PGA Championship continues through May 18 at Aronimink, with players facing the challenging course setup and pin locations in rounds yet to be completed.
