Scottie Scheffler didn’t have his best Friday at PGA. It’s still his to lose

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Scottie Scheffler stood on the first tee and gazed out at the start of Aronimink Golf Club’s front nine. He had been waiting, along with Justin Rose and Matt Fitzpatrick, for a bit. Play at the 2026 PGA Championship has been a slog through two rounds.

There Scheffler stood, chatting with caddie Ted Scott, processing an un-Scheffler-like opening nine to his second round. He missed his first six fairways and bogeyed three of the first four holes as the blustery Philadelphia conditions and diabolical pin locations got the better of the defending champion. He waited and calmed his mind. This major championship will be a test of patience. Scheffler said so himself after the opening round.

Now, without his A-game, that patience was the key to staying in the fight — to giving himself the best chance to take home another Wanamaker Trophy.

“I feel like if it’s hard for me out there, then it’s going to be hard for other players,” Scheffler said on Friday. “It was pretty obvious to tell this morning the conditions were pretty tough, and so I just kept trying to remind myself of that. I think also when the pins get this hard, you really have to choose your moments when you’re going to try and maybe get after a pin or try and play a little bit smarter.”

As many of the world’s best bombed out at Aronimink while trying to force their way back up the board, Scheffler showed the “relentlessness” that Rory McIlroy often trumpets. The thing that makes Scheffler golf’s unstoppable force.

The moment Scheffler waited for arrived a few holes later when he faced a 143-yard approach into Aronimink’s par-4 fourth hole. It was the same yardage he faced on his approach on No. 2, but with a different wind direction. Earlier at No. 2, Scheffler played safe, hit to 30 feet and made par. Facing a different wind direction at No. 4 but with the same club, Scheffler pressed the gas.

“On the second hole, with how much the wind is blowing and where the pin is located, this isn’t really the time for me to try to shove one back in there,” Scheffler said. “Just get in there about 30 feet and two-putt and get out of there and maybe you can steal one with a long putt. And then get to the fourth hole, get the right number, and it’s like okay, let me try and get it in there a little bit closer.”

He stuffed it to five feet and made birdie to get to 2 under, where he sits after 36 holes, two shots off the 36-hole lead.

He’s two back, but this PGA Championship still feels like Scottie Scheffler’s to lose. He went out early Friday in cold, blustery conditions and hit just half of his fairways. He ranked 42nd in the field in Total Strokes Gained in Round 2 as of this writing. He ranked 82nd in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and 126th in Strokes Gained: Putting. He made almost nothing and couldn’t find a fairway.

But good iron play (he ranks seventh in approach) and his greatest weapon — an elite ability to think his way around major championship tests when he doesn’t have his best stuff — have him on the front page of the leaderboard, close enough for everyone to notice.

Scheffler said the pins at Aronimink have been “kind of absurd,” given the windy conditions. The test was hard but not unfair. However, it didn’t come as a surprise to him that the PGA of America opted to push the envelope. On Wednesday, as the winds whipped around Philadelphia, many of Scheffler’s competitors opted to shorten practice rounds or cancel altogether. Scheffler said he elected to play in the high winds, ensuring he’d be prepared for everything. If there’s an edge, the best find it. It was there Friday morning as he fought his way around Aronimink, throwing enough punches to enter the weekend as defending champion and favorite to hoist the Wanamaker Trophy again, and do what he’s the best in the world at doing: solving golf’s major puzzles.  

“I think you can always see it, and I think that’s what is great about the harder tests,” Scheffler said on Friday when asked if he saw low scores out there. “A lot of times you see somebody figure it out.”

Everyone in the field is searching for answers. After two rounds at Aronimink, it’s not hard to see who has the best chance at solving that riddle this weekend.