PGA Championship Observations from Aronimink

As play continued at Philadelphia’s Aronimink Golf Club on Friday, the pace of the game became a hot topic after a slower start on Thursday.

Things got a bit lively when an official approached Justin Thomas and Keegan Bradley on the fourth hole. Their discussion soon escalated to pointed arguments about the pace of play.

Thomas, who has been a member of Team USA for years, and Bradley, the captain of last year’s U.S. national team, had some animated dialogue with the officials in a cart. It was clear they felt the delay wasn’t their fault.

Afterwards, Thomas mentioned that he, Bradley, and fellow golfer Cameron Young, who recently won the Cadillac Championship, were singled out by officials for needing to speed things up. Despite the criticism, Thomas and Bradley were seen directing blame towards the group ahead of them.

“We couldn’t agree more,” Thomas stated, highlighting the tough course conditions and the challenging pin placements. “We were definitely behind, but it wasn’t our issue. It was just that we couldn’t keep the group behind us at bay.”

Thomas admitted that the slow pace caught up with him on the following hole.

In discussing the penalty situation, Thomas had a lengthy exchange with the officials, while Bradley appeared to express his discontent more succinctly. Though obviously unhappy with the ruling, he kept his tone relatively calm.

The PGA Championship features a large field of 156 golfers, making for sometimes complicated play, especially as groups began on different nines. At the time, only 25 players were managing to score below average.

The Aronimink course presents unique challenges with shared tee boxes and intersecting holes. Notably, it includes three par 3s over 200 yards and a notably long par 4 at 457 yards on hole 4.

As Chris Gotterup remarked on Friday, “You can’t afford a four-and-a-half hour round here.”