In a sharp contrast to Rory McIlroy's meticulous and exhaustive preparation for the Masters just a month ago, the 37-year-old has managed just 12 holes in practice spread over two days this week ahead of his morning tee time (1.40pm Irish time) at Aronimink for the 2026 PGA Championship.
A troublesome toe injury on his right foot which reduced his preparation here will not affect his participation in the year’s second major after declaring that the injury was "totally fine" on the completion of the back nine holes on Wednesday afternoon in company with Shane Lowry and Padraig Harrington.
Asked about why he could only play three holes in practice on Tuesday he said: "Because I didn’t think I could walk the next six. Feel very soft having to walk in because of a little toe."
With that he departed with a playful "you boys blow everything out of proportion anyway", to which none of us assembled media disagreed.
Such relatively light-hearted distraction is arguably not a bad thing for McIlroy ahead of this championship because a year ago he was in a very different frame of mind just four weeks after his breakthrough victory in the 2025 Masters.
The explosion of joy and relief 13 months ago had given way rather alarmingly to an apparent crisis in motivation in the period which followed his tumultuous completion of a lifelong goal of achieving the career grand slam.
A pedestrian four uninspired days of play at Quail Hollow saw him finish in a tie for 47th place and he opted not to speak to media after all four rounds.
It was untypical behaviour that would linger all the way to the US Open last June.
McIlroy’s swagger returned somewhat at the Open Championship at Royal Portrush last July and by the time he celebrated dramatic victories at the Amgen Irish Open and then with his European Ryder Cup colleagues last September in New York, the motivational deficit was no more.
What we saw in his successful defence of the Masters last month had the appearance of a new chapter in the career of a player who had at times over the last decade or so been so weighed down and even haunted by a feeling of underachievement in the majors.
Now as a six-time major winner, a member of the career grand slam club and a back-to-back Masters champion, the question is how much further can McIlroy embed himself among the greats of the game and enhance his already legendary status.
His preparation may appear undercooked, but he had paid an advance visit to Philadelphia a fortnight ago to get a good look at the challenge of Aronimink with the express reasoning of not wanting to feel any stress to have to do too much in the week of the tournament.
In spite of its perennial position as the fourth most important title of the four majors, the USPGA is a particularly hard title to win and that’s partly its USP because it has the deepest field of all the majors.
It’s not a hard and fast rule but the PGA of America invite the top 100 ranked players - 98 of whom are here - and they have always invited the best LIV stars.
The date it occupies though is an issue. It seems a bit lost between the Masters and the US Open at a time of year when the PGA Tour’s Signature Series is cresting its peak in between.
What is not in doubt is the quality of the winners it has produced, especially over the last decade or so.
Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa, Phil Mickelson, Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler have, among them, won 13 of the last 14 PGA titles.
Thomas, Koepka and McIlroy are multiple winners of a title that seems to largely favour strong ball striking off the tee - another element which defines the championship from the other majors as it actively sets out to reward that particular skillset in the game.
And the way this week’s venue sets up, it will likely have the bombers salivating.
Aronimink’s original 1928 layout by Donald Ross (he of Pinehurst No2 and Winged Foot East design fame) was a wide fairway kind of challenge and it remained so under the extensive renovation of Gil Hanse in 2017.
It is now a 7,397-yard layout with a tight par of 70 which defended by lush thick four-inch deep rough and 174 bunkers.
The 30-yard wide fairways though are generous and the thinking behind Kerry Haigh’s set up of the course is to offer a stern but entertaining challenge which will yield a high single digit under-par winning number.
Domestic dominance of the title is revealed in players from the USA winning the last ten PGAs, but it could be time for that run to end, especially with the golf that McIlroy is capable of producing.
Added to that, Jon Rahm soared up the leaderboard last year to take a share of the lead on the back nine on Sunday before hitting the reverse gear with a frankly disastrous last three holes. The burly Spaniard is one of eleven LIV players in the field.
Justin Rose, after a near miss in the last two Masters, won a PGA Tour event at Aronimink in 2010 and was a runner-up at the BMW Championship on the current renovated course in 2018.
This week’s challenge could also be a perfect fit for in-form world No 4 Matt Fitzpatrick whose sharp iron approach play will be a high-demand skillset.
The recent American hold on the tournament won’t be given up easily in all likelihood with world No 1 Scottie Scheffler now quickly approaching his best form of the year having finished runner-up in his last three tournaments.
Cameron Young has risen to number three after backing up his Player’s Championship win with victory at Doral less than a fortnight ago, while there is also, of course, 2024 US Open champion Bryson De Chambeau, who has finished in the top four over the last three years.
Ireland’s quartet of competitors are completed by 2008 champion Padraig Harrington, 23-year-old Tom McKibbin - playing in his sixth major - and Shane Lowry. The Offaly man has fond memories of playing well in recent USPGA Championships, famously equalling the major championship record of 62 in the third round at Valhalla in 2024.
Lowry’s campaign in 2026 has been characterised by fine form in his physical game and some frayed destructive nerves while in contention in the Dubai Invitational in January, the Cognizant in February and the Masters last month.
The 39-year-old has been working with renowned golf psychologist Bob Rotella in the hope of again moving into contention and finding the mental resilience to see the job through.
Aronimink, with its high demand on accurate iron play, would seem to fit his skillset from tee to green and it could well offer him another chance in a championship which has seen him finish in the top-10 three times since 2019.
