NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — If you’re feeling like Saturday’s big game of hot potatoes. 2026 PGA Championshipbecause that’s exactly what it was. The moving day consisted of moving from all corners of the Aronimink Golf Course, but in the end, 36-hole leader Alex Smalley shot an incredible 2-under 68 to move to 6-under for the championship and finish from a shared advantage. He went so far as to dominate the position, finishing with a two-stroke lead over Ludwig Oberg, Matty Schmidt, Nick Taylor, Aaron Rye, Jon Rahm, and many others not far behind, ultimately making it the least important spot.
“Of course I dreamed of this as a kid. It’s funny because it was the Wanamaker Trophy and I lived in the Wanamaker dorm for three years in college,” Smalley said. “So my parents and I joked that maybe I would win this tournament because of that fact. It was a running joke even before I got here.”
“It would be pretty cool to actually pull it out tomorrow.”
The lead bounced back to a roar from the Philadelphia faithful. Each new echo signaled a birdie, while each groan sent the message of a missed opportunity. Leaderboard monitoring did not favor the players, as they looked up at the bright white lights and at one moment one name was read out, and just a few seconds later another name was read out.
At one point Saturday, a total of 13 different players held the lead. They range from Chris Kirk, who had a chance to shoot a 62 before a four-putt double bogey in the final, to Rory McIlroy, who has clawed his way back from the depths of despair with rounds of 67-66 over the past two days.
McIlroy’s march back to page one of the leaderboard began with four shots on the other side of par. If he can make the long climb up the 18th hole with this Donald Ross design, he will become the first to win a season slam since Jordan Spieth in 2015 and his third major championship of the year. Six major championships and a career Grand Slam already make him immortal, but adding one more would make his legend even bigger.
“If I had to play the last three holes at 1 under instead of 1 over, I could have gone to 5 (under),” McIlroy said. “And I kind of thought that if I could come out and do that today, the top guys would shoot under par and be in line with me or ahead of me. So I just didn’t get there. I think I made some mistakes in the last three holes. I feel like I still did enough to think I had a chance going into tomorrow.”
Hoping to follow in McIlroy’s career Grand Slam footsteps is Rahm, one of 13 players to top the leaderboard in the third round. He held onto the lead until the end, but a three-putt from 31 feet took him out of the lead. If the Spaniard finally reaches the top, he will have won three consecutive major tournaments with Grand Slams at stake, following Spieth this week, Scottie Scheffler at the US Open, and Rahm at the British Open.
Speaking of Schaeffler…is he from the past? Smalley’s clutch birdie on the 18th hole late Saturday evening gave the smooth-swinging right-handed pitcher even more room to play, and the lead was five points. Margin is very important for Scheffler, but he is tied for 23rd place at 1 under, so how many players are between him and the leader is just as important.
Xander Schauffele, a player who won the tournament and is also well known for his final birdie, remains firmly in the conversation as he matched McIlroy’s 66 earlier in the day to tie for the Masters champion at 3 under. He grows in confidence with his swing and understands that a late tee time doesn’t mean he’ll survive until the end.
“It really depends on how the course plays,” Schauffele said. “So if someone goes early and hits something like 6 or 7 under, depending on how strong the wind is, that person might have a chance to win it all.”
These are just a handful of players who could win Sunday’s PGA Championship. There are several others, but they may still not be well understood. Either way, it’s time to narrow down your list. 54 holes may not have given us a definitive answer, but the next 18 holes certainly will. Check out the full version 2026 PGA Championship prize money breakdown (including $20.5 million purse payout) For all successful golfers.
Who can capture the leader and beat Wanamaker?
Odds by DraftKings
T2. Jon Rahm (-4)
As an inexperienced Smalley (who has never won on the PGA Tour), Rahm is the favorite on the odds board to win, and the other three at 4 under don’t match his resume. The Spaniard rolled his putter on Saturday’s front nine, but wobbled a bit as he returned home. Still, he hit the required 15 greens, and if a similar diet comes through on Sunday, he’ll be a tough guy to beat. Ram is that But there have been some late hiccups in recent big moments, like last year’s PGA Championship, when he failed to make a birdie on a key hole before the green mile. Let’s see if this experience pays off. Odds: 9/2
T2. Ludwig Oberg (-4)
The best player from tee to green this week was none other than Oberg. The Swedish superstar kept the ball on the line, but unfortunately the ball went off the line on the green multiple times and he was unable to get any closer to the lead. The robot right-hand man’s talent is undeniable. Suggestions that he could win multiple major championships have come true. But the results weren’t as great as Sunday’s struggles headlined his 2026 season. But if he smarts up on himself and slows things down when the heat gets high in the final rounds, things could change a lot quickly. Odds: 6-1
T7. Rory McIlroy (-3)
McIlroy currently has 25 major rounds of 66 or less, just behind Tiger Woods (28). McIlroy may need to do something similar on Sunday. He’ll definitely need to beat par at a round this low to get past Smalley, who was outside the top 100 following Thursday’s play. He continued to be aggressive off the tee and miss in the right spots, but what’s scary to others is how he putt over the last 36 holes. There will be a crucial 8-footer at some point Sunday, but McIlroy looks at ease even on a green where everyone looks uncomfortable. Odds: 15/2
T7. Xander Schauffele (-3)
Schauffele is a cockroach in the best sense imaginable. As everything goes wrong, bogeys are made and clubs are thrown, Schauffele slithers his way to contending for the next major championship. Earlier this week, the 2024 PGA Champion lacked a bit of confidence, but he told himself and his game lived up to it. He looked like Schauffele from two years ago on the greens when he made seven key putts from 5 to 15 feet in the third round. If many of those pearl looks are for birdies on Sunday, he could become the latest multi-time PGA winner. Odds: 13-1
T23. Scotty Scheffler (-1)
Scheffler missed six putts from inside 10 feet in the third round, most of them closer to 5 feet. So the world number one dug himself a hole, as just being under par on Saturday, when his average field score was exactly par with 70.00 points, was enough. of Threat to Smalley. In fact, he is just one of them. Scheffler is driving well and his iron play shines at times, but he has to balance patience and aggression like a tightrope walk in the final round. Odds: 17-1
T7. Patrick Reed (-3)
Reed absolutely loves this type of golf. No Trackman data, no mechanical overload. Stick the peg in the ground, find the feel and try to get the ball into the hole as quickly as possible. Reed had been cycling through some swing feel earlier in the week, but then scored a potential winner in his bid for his second major win. The American has only hit 18 fairways this week, but still ranks within the top five in approach play. If Reed wins, you’d have to imagine it’s because he gave Driver a chance to shine for the rest of the match. Odds: 19-1
T11. Chris Gotterup (-2)
Gotterup took the lead with a birdie on the par-5 ninth, but things slowly took a turn for the worse on the back nine. He missed the fairway on the 10th for a bogey, missed the green wide on the 11th for a bogey, then missed the green again on the 17th for…you guessed it…bogey. He missed numerous scoring chances between the squares but kept his cool like a champion. Gottharp hit seven greens on the front nine and was just two on on the back. To threaten him, his iron play needs to be consistent. Odds: 38-1
T11. Justin Rose (-2)
Rose, who was the pacesetter with nine holes left at Augusta National, is in the middle of the pack with 18 holes left at the PGA Championship. His six birdies on Saturday all came from within 12 feet, showing how well his new McLaren irons were working. It would be easy to blame those clubs for a few weeks of slump, but Rose was adamant that it was his swing that was failing, not his equipment. After hitting seven fairways in the first two days, he split 10 in the third round. He will have to repeat it again. Odds: 40-1
T11. Joaquin Niemann (-2)
There’s a lot of potential on this leaderboard, and Niemann definitely falls into that camp. The Chilean, who was labeled the best in the world by LIV golf officials this time last year, has declined in form since then, but his talent remains the same. He has continued to hit well all week and has the firepower to chase, as he did with back-to-back threes on No. 15 and No. 16 en route to Sunday’s championship appearance. Odds: 51-1
