EARLY 2026 PGA CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST ROUND NOTES

• The biggest number of players within 3 shots of the lead at the end of the first round of a major championship is 47, set at the 1993 Open Championship at Royal St George’s.  

The greatest number of players within 3 shots of the lead at the end of the first round of a PGA Championship is 41, set in 1959 at Minneapolis Golf Club.

Image PGA of America

Currently, there are 65 players within 3 shots of the lead.  We will update this stat at the end of today’s round!

• If nobody shoots 66 or lower today, Aldrich Potgieter (21 years, 243 days old today) would be the third-youngest player to lead (shared or lead) at the end of the first round of a major championship since 2000.  Here is the current top 3 since 2000:

Potgieter would be the second-youngest R1 leader (shared or outright) in PGA Championship history.  Sergio Garcia was 19 years, 215 days old when he had the lead entering R2 in 1999.

• The last time the leader at the end of the first round of the PGA Championship was no more than 3-under par was in 2008. 
• Jordan Spieth has not led at the end of a major championship round (shared or outright) since R3 of the 2018 Open Championship. 
• Aldrich Potgieter is currently leading the field in SG:Putting. He ranks 122nd in that category on the PGA TOUR this season. 

Potgieter (who turns 22 in September) is the second-youngest player to shoot 67 or better in R1 of the PGA Championship (Sergio Garcia, 66 in 1999, age 19). 

• Jon Rahm holed out for an eagle on the Par-4 second hole today. Amazingly, it was the first eagle of his PGA Championship career.  He had played 576 holes at this championship entering today.

Daniel Brown made an eagle on the Par-4 11th hole today.   As a point of context, there were six par-4 eagles in the first round of last year’s PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club.

• Daniel Brown is playing in his third career major, having played in the 2024 and 2025 Open Championships. He led after the first round in 2024, ultimately finishing T-10. He missed the cut the following year.  Aldrich Potgieter, who is currently the leader in the clubhouse with a 67, is also making his PGA Championship debut.
  
• Over the last 50 years, only four players had at least a share of the first round lead in his PGA Championship debut: Michael Bradley (1995, ultimately finished T-54), Sergio Garcia (1999, finished runner-up to Tiger Woods), Rod Pampling (2003, finished T-14) and Graeme Storm (2007, T-62).
• Jordan Spieth, in pursuit of the career grand slam, opened with a 34 (-1) over his first nine holes.  He has been inside the top 10 after the first round of a PGA Championship once: he was T-9 in 2019 at Bethpage Black after shooting an opening round 69 (-1).
• Today marks the fifth time that Bryson DeChambeau has shot four-over par or higher over his first nine holes in R1 of a major championship. He made the cut in two of the previous four instances (2018 USO, 2021 Masters). 
• Cameron Smith has shot 70 or higher in each of his last 19 major championship rounds, dating back to R2 of the 2024 PGA Championship. He last made a cut at a major at the 2024 U.S. Open.
• Bud Cauley has been among the top 10 on the leaderboard at the end of a PGA Championship round twice: 2017 (R1, T-8) and 2020 (R1, T-3). He has never finished among the top 30 of a major championship. 
• Stephan Jaeger ranked T-4 after shooting 67 (-4) in R1 at last year’s PGA Championship. It is the only time he has ranked among the top 5 at the conclusion of any major championship round.  Jaeger has never finished among the top 20 in a major championship.
• Stephan Jaegar’s outward nine of 31 today matches the lowest 9-hole side of his majors career. He shot 31 over his first nine holes in R1 of the 2025 Masters; and over his first nine holes in R3 of the 2024 PGA Championship.