The course layout at Aronimink has troubled the pace of play from the very start and has become a headache all week. And if that wasn’t trouble enough, Justin Thomas received a penalty and got into an argument with an official for that. The two-time PGA champion discussed the matter with the press.

“We were, yeah. We just didn’t really agree with it. It’s hard because it’s kind of the whole time par thing. What is time par? How can time par on this course be the same when it’s blowing 25 and the pins are tough than if it’s not? And does time par change every day? There’s just so many factors that go into it. We weren’t holding up the group behind us. They were about , it seemed like every time we were on the green, they were on the tee and so on and so forth,” he said.

During Round 2 of the 2026 PGA Championship, Thomas was playing alongside former PGA champion Keegan Bradley and Cameron Young when, midway through their round, a rules official’s vehicle pulled up alongside the group on the 11th hole. The group hadn’t committed a foul until then. The official, however, felt that they were taking too long and determined that they were out of position.

Thomas, Bradley, and Young had to play on a timer from that moment. They stayed on the clock for one hole, and once they caught up to the group ahead, officials confirmed they were back in position and removed the timer. Thomas made his case to the officials during that stretch, but the call was not reversed while it was in place.

For context, here’s how pace-of-play enforcement actually works on the Tour, and what the rules have to say about each scenario.

• Out of position: When a group is out of position, it means they have fallen behind the group ahead. If this happens, officials can issue a formal warning.
• On the clock: If the playing group does not recover after a warning, it is timed on every shot it plays afterward. The first player to play has 60 seconds per shot. Each player, after that, has 40 seconds.
• Bad time: If a player exceeds their allotted time while on the clock, that is recorded as a bad time. A second bad time in the same tournament results in a $50,000 fine, with an additional $20,000 each per penalty thereafter.
• Stroke penalty: In a severe case, officials can charge a one-stroke penalty after giving a warning, the clock, and two bad times. This rarely happens. The last recorded instance was at the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island.

Thomas’s point was straightforward: his group was not causing a backup, and the group behind them was keeping up, so why were they being penalized? He also opened up about refusing to let the clock change how he played. When asked if he rushed his play at all, he was direct.

“No. I backed off on my first shot, being on the clock even. That’s the last thing I’m going to do, make a mistake because I feel like I’m rushing.”

Thomas’s issue was with the very first step of the process. Officials flagged his group for being out of position, but the group behind them was not being held up. Another question that comes up is: why were they put on timing immediately? Officials likely went straight to the clock because the group had already significantly fallen behind. It could have been a miscalculation, but that is what the group faced.

Aronimink’s course structure also fuels speculation, as it creates bottlenecks around major holes. The 10th tee box overlaps with the first tee. The 18th green sits steps away from the 17th. Further, the 17th is a par 3, which means putts and approach shots there delay play on the 18th. These are physical restraints that no clock enforcement can fix.

And then there’s, of course, the field size. A record 97 of the top 100 players in the world teed it up at Aronimink on Thursday, making it the highest concentration of elite players at any event this season. In fact, Thomas himself called the practice round at Aronimink “unbearably slow” during the week’s preparation days. So yes, the course is large, but it also has sloping greens that demand extra deliberation and more precise shot-making, only adding to the time each hole requires.

Bradley and Young were part of it, too, and it is not their first time

Frustrated, Bradley and Thomas gestured toward the group in front of them to make their point, stating that the pace issue was not from them. But Bradley’s relationship with slow-play scrutiny runs deeper than one incident. At the 2025 Tour Championship at East Lake, he drew widespread criticism for a putting routine on a short putt that ran well over the 40-second limit.

Meanwhile, Young stayed quieter through it all. However, he has been one of the form players of the 2026 season, with two wins and a string of top-10 finishes. Young had little to gain from a public back-and-forth with officials and largely let Thomas lead the on-course conversation.

Young recovered from a sluggish opening 71 to shoot a 3-under 67 on Friday, capping his round with an eagle on his final hole to move into the top 10 at 2-under for the tournament.

The PGA Championship is full of storylines, and two rounds remain to be played. The leaderboard is tight, and the focus now has to shift entirely to what comes next.