This PGA Championship Is Setting Up to Have a First-Time Major Champion

The crowded leaderboard at Aronimink includes several players looking for their maiden major, and the SI Golf staff debates whether one of them will break through.

Maverick McNealy, looking for a first major title, is tied for the lead midway through the PGA Championship. | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — The 108th PGA Championship has reached the halfway mark and no one has broken away.

There isn’t a seven-way tie at the top like there was after Round 1, but co-leaders Alex Smalley and Maverick McNealy (4 under) have 19 players within three shots of them including world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and No. 3 Cameron Young at 2 under.

Among those top 21 spots on the leaderboard are 15 players who have yet to win a major, including the co-leaders and Young, which leads to something for the SI Golf team to ponder, Fact or Fiction-style:

This PGA Championship, at a fair but tough Aronimink, will crown a new first-time major champion.

Bob Harig, SI Golf Senior Writer: FACT. First, we are due for that type of major result. There haven’t been a lot of outlier major results in recent years, save for perhaps J.J. Spaun last year and Wyndham Clark in 2023 at the U.S. Open. And both of their victories were compelling. The PGA, however, has a way of identifying first-timers, mostly due to the depth of its field. There were 97 of the top 100 in OWGR entered. And 12 of the top 15 on the leaderboard have never won a major. The numbers say it is happening.  

Jeff Ritter, SI Golf Managing Director: FACT. Yes, there are plenty of established major-winners lurking, but with the board bunched together, someone can pop up with a quick run on Sunday afternoon and swipe the Wanamaker without even taking time to contemplate his name atop the board, let alone sleeping on the lead. Beware the random winner, for this is his chance. 

Michael Rosenberg, SI Senior Writer: FICTION. Of the 43 players within five shots of the lead, 12 have won majors. Hideki Matsuyama is one stroke off the lead. Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas and Jason Day are all very much in contention. But this is “fiction” mostly because of how many names are unlikely to stay around the lead all weekend. There are only a handful of guys who could win their first major and not surprise us: Cam Young, Chris Gotterup, Ludvig Åberg, a few others. If I had to bet, I’d wager on the guys who have won majors.

John Schwarb, SI Golf Senior Editor: FICTION. Aronimink is a wonderful test and the leaderboard could remain this crowded on Sunday afternoon, but I’m not moving off my pre-tournament pick of Scottie Scheffler. If you’re telling me I can also couple that with Hideki Matsuyama, two-time PGA winner Justin Thomas plus Patrick Reed and Rory McIlroy—both lurking with plenty of golf left—then I really like my position.