The second of four majors tees off this week at the 2026 PGA Championship. Hosted at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, located just outside of Philadelphia, this par 70 runs 7,394 yards and returns to a cut line.
Designed by Donald Ross, the course features large bentgrass greens and a three-inch rough that requires off-the-tee accuracy. Distance is another component, while over 150 sand bunkers will create poor lies if tee-to-green accuracy is off. Even if golfers hit the greens, they measure over 8,200 square feet, so greens in regulation becomes a bit of a diminished stat this week.
No surprise, Scottie Scheffler is the outright betting favorite at +480 odds. He’s carded three straight runner-up finishes but only has one victory on his 2026 resumé. Rory McIlroy is the only other golfer shorter than 10-1 (+950) in the outright betting market at Aronimink this week.
Last week’s Truist Championship winner, Kristoffer Reitan, was a massive long shot, so let’s hope that we get a similar result in Philadelphia this week. We nearly cashed Alex Fitzpatrick at 100-1 at Quail Hollow on Sunday, however, the newly minted PGA Tour player struggled with his putting in Round 4, blowing his 54-hole lead.
I’ve got three more golfers to bet on with longshot odds who are poised to contend at the 2026 PGA Championship. Follow me on X at Matt_MacKay_ for more free picks and analysis throughout the PGA Tour season.
2026 PGA Championship Picks & Predictions: PGA Longshots
(Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook)
Patrick Reed (+8000)
During the first major of the season at the Masters, we saw Patrick Reed jump up the leaderboard with back-to-back rounds of -3 under par. Then, he failed to break par in the final two rounds.
Winning is no foreign concept to Reed. He’s logged nine victories on the PGA Tour, along with a win at LIV last season.
While Reed is still limited due to his suspension following a return from LIV, he’ll have a prime opportunity to showcase his game at Aronimink this week, aiming for an outright win to boost his earnings in 2026.
At 80-1, Reed’s worth a flier in the outright winner betting market.
Sepp Straka (+8000)
Sepp Straka is a textbook boom-or-bust golfer. He’s still being undervalued at 80-1 this week, especially since he’s ranked 13th in SG: Approach, plus top-50 in total driving and birdie average (4.00) this season.
The Austrian has been on a downward trend lately, but we did see a T4 finish logged at the Cadillac Championship at a tough course like Trump National Doral. Straka has three top 10s under his belt in 2026 and posted a pair of outright wins in 2025.
The big question is Straka’s short game. If he can get that part of his bag going more consistently, we’ll likely see Straka’s name near the top of the leaderboard on Sunday.
Let’s bet on the four-time PGA Tour champion to log his first major win this week at +8000 odds.
Matt McCarty (+12500)
Matt McCarty is certainly not a household name on the PGA Tour. However, the 28-year-old Arizona native has been nails lately, carding three straight top 10 finishes entering the PGA Championship.
McCarty did log a win at the 2024 Black Desert Championship. It’s only his third year on the PGA Tour, so he’s quickly ascending, proven by his metrics.
In 2026, McCarty ranks 45th in SG: Putting, 26th in driving accuracy, and 15th in proximity. The putter is an asset for him, ranked 10th in putting average and top-40 in putts per round and one-putt rate. It’s why McCarty sits 39th on par 4s and 26th in birdie average.
At 125-1, we can’t ignore this price on McCarty to win at Aronimink this week.