Maverick McNealy and Alex Smalley shared the 36-hole lead at 4-under 136 after the second round of the 2026 US PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club on May 15, marking the highest 36-hole score to lead the event since 2012 [1, 2]. The first round, played on May 14, featured a seven-way tie for the lead at 3-under 67, including world number one and defending champion Scottie Scheffler [3]. Aronimink hosted the PGA Championship for the first time in 64 years this week [4, 2].
The course at Aronimink played very tough, with only 32 of 156 players finishing the first round under par [3]. Pin positions were described by Scheffler as some of the hardest he had seen on tour. "Most of the pins today were kind of absurd," Scheffler said. "This is the hardest set of pin locations that I've seen since I've been on tour, and that includes US Opens. I mean, there's literally just a spine and they're like, 'Oh, we'll just put the pin right on top of it.' And you're like, 'All right, well, I'll see what I can do'" [4].
Scheffler, who came into the tournament with one win and multiple top-five finishes in 2026 but had three consecutive runner-up finishes prior, shot a 67 in round one but was two under par after two rounds, trailing the leaders by two shots [3, 1, 4, 5, 2]. Some sources reported Scheffler scored +1 in round two but all agree he remains firmly in contention [1, 4, 2].
Rory McIlroy rebounded from a poor opening round 74 with a strong, bogey-free 67 in round two to position himself five shots behind the leaders. "It was a day to get back into the tournament and that's what I managed to do," McIlroy said. He acknowledged the course penalized missed fairways harshly. "There certainly is a penalty for missing the fairway. Probably more than what I anticipated," he said [3, 1, 2].
Big hitters like McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau struggled early with precision and missed fairways, highlighting the difficulty of the course setup [3]. Jon Rahm noted earlier chatter that scores of 15 to 20 under par would win, but said, "I think that got to somebody in the PGA [of America], and they did something about it" regarding course difficulty [3].
The leaderboard features unexpected names alongside established stars, showing that the punishing Aronimink setup rewards strategic, adaptable play over raw power [3, 1, 2]. McNealy and Smalley will lead the field into the weekend with Scheffler and McIlroy still in contention.
The third round will resume today, May 15, as players try to navigate Aronimink’s demanding layout and position themselves for the weekend.
