Aronimink’s List of Previous Champions Is Diverse (and Surprising)

This year’s PGA Championship is set for Aronimink Golf Club, just outside Philadelphia. It may not have the major-championship track record of some of the more celebrated venues in the U.S., but make no mistake: Aronimink has a storied history all of its own, which includes some big-time winners.

The club first started as the Belmont Golf Association, launched in 1896 as an offshoot of the local Belmont Cricket Club. Those cricketers laid out a few golf holes, and in 1900 the golfers incorporated themselves as the Aronimink Golf Club. In 1928, they moved into the clubhouse at present-day Aronimink, and Donald Ross designed the course’s 18 holes, with an idea to make the course as challenging as possible for the world’s best.

It took some time, but eventually Aronimink indeed became the venue for some of golf’s greatest championship, including the 1962 PGA Championship, which was won by Gary Player, and the 1977 U.S. Amateur, won by John Fought. Aronimink was the first course to host the PGA of America’s three rotating championships: the PGA Championship, the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship and the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, which makes its list of past winners both diverse and surprising.

This year will mark the first men’s major since Player’s triumph in 1962, and a field of 154 players are set to compete. Here’s a list of notable events that have been staged in the preceding years at Aronimink, along with the winners. Soon a new PGA champion will etch their name onto the list below.

Notable past champions at Aronimink Golf Club

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