The group of players including Justin Thomas, Keegan Bradley and Cameron Young received a warning from the officials at the 2026 PGA Championship over slow playing during Friday’s second round at Aronimink Golf Club.
The tensions arose when the official objected over the pace of play during the second round of Championship. Even heated arguments were exchanged between authorities and Justice Thomas and Keegan Bradley during the game.
While playing the fourth hole, the duo once again were warned to increase pace, leading to escalated tension marked by finger-pointing and gestures. The trio was reportedly “put on the clock” early in the round, prompting animated discussions with a rules official that were caught on broadcast cameras.
Later Thomas asserted that they were clueless about why they were singled out. The players were not keeping pace slow on purpose, in fact, some difficult conditions such as challenging pin placements and strong winds made pace of play quite unrealistic and daunting.
In a post-game interview Thomas said, “We didn’t just agree with it. It’s a whole time par thing. How can the time par be the same in this game when winds are blowing 25 and pins are tough.”
“We were behind. That wasn’t our issue… It’s just the fact that we weren’t holding up the group behind us,” he added.
Thomas said, “I backed off on my first shot being on the clock, even. It’s just, it’s so hard out here, and that’s the last thing I’m going to do is make a mistake because I feel like I’m rushing.”
“If we were, for some reason, to get in a position where I was getting bad times and we were continuing to be on, I would have had more discussions with the rules officials to kind of plead my case.”
The incident added to growing frustration over pace-of-play issues throughout the championship where several rounds go beyond 5 hours.
The PGA championship hosts a robust field of 156 golfers with some groups starting their rounds on the back nine.
