Expert sets early 2026 PGA picks

More than a year before the first tee shot, the 2026 PGA Championship has already found its first fault line: who to trust at Aronimink Golf Club.

SportsLine golf expert David Bearman has released early predictions for the major, framing the conversation around favorites, contenders and at least one notable fade. The clearest takeaway from the early outlook centers on Ludvig Aberg, with reports indicating Bearman does not view him as the play to back heading into the event at Aronimink in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

Early major forecasts rarely settle anything, but they do reveal where sharp attention starts to gather.

That matters because major championship betting markets often move long before tournament week. Early predictions can shape how fans and bettors read the field, especially when a respected analyst steps away from a high-profile name. In this case, the signal does not declare a final verdict on the 2026 championship, but it does suggest Aronimink could reward a particular profile of player more than reputation alone.

The bigger story sits beyond one player. Early previews like this one show how quickly the sports calendar turns and how fast major narratives take shape. Aronimink now enters the discussion not just as a host site, but as a course likely to influence how experts sort contenders from popular public picks.

What happens next will come in layers: more odds, more course analysis and a sharper sense of which players fit the test Aronimink presents. For readers tracking the 2026 PGA Championship, these first predictions matter because they set the baseline for every argument that follows — and because early skepticism around a top name can become one of the defining themes of the build-up.