Morning folks,
Golf has a funny way of making normal-looking places feel threatening.
A pond? Fine. A tree? Pleasant. A patch of sand? Basically a beach.
But put those things around a tee shot at a major championship, and suddenly everyone on site starts acting like they’re defusing a bomb with a 3-wood.
That’s the vibe this week at Aronimink Golf Club, where the PGA Championship arrives at a course with 174 bunkers and a lot of ways to make players uncomfortable.
More on that below.
-Harry Carlisle
IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER we’ll get into:
PGA Championship week arriving at Aronimink
How a pro caddie maps Scottie Scheffler’s tee shots
A DP World Tour blowout that nearly reached Tiger Woods territory
WEEKEND SCORECARD
Two very different Sundays: Kristoffer Reitan earned his first PGA TOUR win, while Brandt Snedeker ended a nearly eight-year drought.
Kristoffer Reitan won the Truist Championship at Quail Hollow for his first PGA TOUR victory, beating Rickie Fowler and Nicolai Højgaard by two.
The interesting backstory: Reitan was nearly out of the DP World Tour picture a few years ago. He rebuilt through Europe’s smaller tours, won his way back, and finally reached the PGA TOUR this season.
Brandt Snedeker remembered how to win: Snedeker won the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic with a final-round 66, snapping nearly eight years without a PGA TOUR victory.
Ryan Ruffels made the cut: Ryan Ruffels got into Myrtle Beach through The Q, a creator-golf qualifier, then made the weekend in his first PGA TOUR start in four years. He opened 66-67 and briefly climbed near the top 20.
MAJOR WATCH
Aronimink brought back the bunkers
The green on Hole 10 at Aronimink Golf Club is fully surrounded by bunkers
This week, the PGA Championship heads to Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia.
Aronimink is a Donald Ross design from 1928 that was later restored by Gil Hanse with a focus on bringing back more Ross strategy.
One number explains the restoration fast:
The bunker count went from 74 to 174.
Why? The goal wasn’t just to make the course harder. It was to bring back more choices. Ross courses are often about angles, not just length. The bunkers force players to think about where they want to approach from, not just whether they can find the fairway.
What to watch
No. 11, a 425-yard par 4, reportedly went from five bunkers to 20 after the restoration.
So you’ll see different strategies right away off the tee. The aggressive line can open up the green, but it brings more sand into play. The safer line can still find the fairway, but leave them a tougher angle into the green.
Which means we’ll probably see players split into two groups:
The confident drivers will take on the bunker line to leave a cleaner approach.
The cautious planners will aim away from the worst sand, accept a longer or more awkward second shot, and try to avoid the big number.
INSIDE THE MIND OF A PROFESSIONAL CADDIE
Tedd Scott, Scottie Scheffler’s Caddie
Imagine you’re Ted Scott preparing for Aronimink with Scottie Scheffler’s game in mind.
What’s the first move?
Before arriving, he’ll look from above using satellite imagery
On No. 2, that means spotting a 413-yard par 4 that bends left, with a partially blind landing area, six bunkers near the dogleg, and fairway slope that can move the ball left to right.
Aronimink No. 2 from above, where the tee shot has to account for six bunkers, a partially blind landing area, and fairway slope moving left to right.
Scheffler’s average driving distance this season has been listed around 309.5 yards, so driver could leave a wedge or short iron depending on wind, tee setup, and rollout.
But distance isn’t everything
Step 2: Overlay the shot dispersion
Shot dispersion is the full cluster of where a player’s shots usually finish, not just the best one.
A caddie uses that cluster to choose a target that protects against the worst miss. The goal isn’t to aim at the perfect landing spot. It’s to aim somewhere that keeps the full pattern away from the trouble.
On No. 2, the important edge is the right side, where sand, rough, and a blocked angle can all come into play.
Aronimink No. 2, with a 310-yard drive dispersion showing the landing window a caddie might build around.
Step 3: Add the shot shape
Scheffler usually plays a fade, which for a right-handed player starts left and moves right.
That matters because No. 2 can also feed left to right after the ball lands. A good-looking fade can keep moving right once it hits the ground.
So a caddie-style target may start farther left, with a landing window that finishes more left-center instead of chasing the perfect angle.
Not because it’s conservative. Because the target gives his fade room to move right without bringing the worst right-side trouble into play.
Key takeaway: The best caddie target isn’t where the perfect shot finishes. It’s where the normal miss still survives.
What you can steal from this
Before you play a new course, look at the long holes from above using Google Maps satellite view.
Ask three questions:
Where is the trouble?
Where do my normal shots finish?
Where can I aim so my most common miss avoids the biggest trouble?
Aim for the landing window that keeps your usual miss away from bunkers, water, trees, and blocked angles.
That does one useful thing before you even show up: it removes the tee-box panic. You’re not standing there with driver in hand, guessing at a target while your group waits. You already know the trouble, the start line, and the miss you can live with.
Simple version: driver is often the right play on long holes because distance improves scoring chances. But the target shouldn’t just be “center fairway.” It should be the spot where your shot pattern avoids the biggest mistake.
LIV GOLF
LIV players are already preparing different exits
Jon Rahm reached a DP World Tour agreement that keeps his Ryder Cup eligibility path alive.
Lucas Herbert won LIV Golf Virginia at 24 under, four shots clear of Sergio García, for his first LIV Golf title. The nervy part: Herbert’s final-round lead reportedly shrank from five shots to one before he steadied himself and pulled away. The bigger prize was access: The win moved Herbert to No. 3 on LIV’s points list, which earned him a U.S. Open spot and his first start in that championship in three years.
Then there’s Bryson DeChambeau , who’s already built the strangest backup plan in golf. If LIV ever folds, Bryson has said he could lean harder into YouTube while still playing tournaments that want him. He also said one strategy would be “to do a bunch of dubbing in different languages,” which shows he’s thinking about a global media business, not just a golf channel.
LPGA Tour
Nelly’s run finally gets interrupted
Jeeno got the trophy. Nelly’s Hall of Fame chase still got closer.
Jeeno Thitikul won the Mizuho Americas Open at 13 under, finishing four shots clear of Ruoning Yin. It was her second LPGA win of the season.
Nelly Korda didn’t win this time, but the bigger picture is still ridiculous. She won the Chevron Championship and Riviera Maya Open in back-to-back starts, has three wins in 2026, and is now at 23 LPGA Hall of Fame points, four short of the 27 needed for induction.
WORLD
Yurav Premlall holds the trophy
DP World Tour: Yurav Premlall almost did a Tiger thing
South Africa’s Yurav Premlall won the Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship in Spain at 28 under. The next closest player finished at 14 under.
That’s not a typo.
Premlall, a 22-year-old ranked No. 598 in the world, won by 14 shots for his first DP World Tour title. For context, Tiger Woods won the 2000 U.S. Open by 15 shots, the largest winning margin in men’s major championship history.
Premlall missed Tiger’s margin by one shot.
Japan: Yui Kawamoto survives a major-style grind
Yui Kawamoto won the World Ladies Championship Salonpas Cup, one of the JLPGA’s major championships, finishing at 1 over to beat Ai Suzuki by two shots.
Only three players finished better than 5 over, and more than half the field ended double digits over par.
QUICK HITS
Short stuff worth knowing
Phil Mickelson withdrew from the PGA Championship because of an ongoing family health matter. Max Homa was added to the field.
Claire Dowling has been named the first female captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. She begins the role in September with the traditional driving-in ceremony at the Old Course.
Brooks Koepka shot 64 at Myrtle Beach, his lowest PGA TOUR round in five years, and said it was the most excited he’d been playing golf in a long time.
BOGEY OR BRAINS
Your ball is in the rough, and there’s a loose leaf sitting right behind it.
You reach down, move the leaf, and the ball rolls.
What do you do?
A) No penalty, replace the ball
B) One-stroke penalty, replace the ball
C) No penalty, play it from the new spot
D) One-stroke penalty, play it from the new spot
ANSWER
B) One-stroke penalty, replace the ball
A loose leaf is a loose impediment, and you’re allowed to move it. But if moving it causes your ball to move anywhere other than the putting green, you get a one-stroke penalty and must replace the ball.
Why it matters: This comes up constantly with leaves, sticks, pine needles, acorns, and tiny bits of course debris. You’re allowed to clean up around your ball, but you’re still responsible if the ball moves.
Weekend golf note: In a casual round, your buddy probably shouldn’t turn this into a courtroom drama if the ball barely wobbled. But in a tournament, the rule is the rule.
