The PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club just outside Philadelphia is capping off a strong run of top-tier golf tournaments for Pennsylvania—inluding the U.S. Open and PGA Tour’s Truist Championship last year, as well as the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open.
State officials are making efforts to make that a more common occurrence.
“I really do want the PGA Tour at Cobbs Creek,” Pennsylvania Deputy Secretary of Tourism Anne Ryan tells Front Office Sports. “I’m obsessed with it.”
Cobbs Creek is a 110-year-old public golf course in Philadelphia that’s in the final year of a major restoration project that was designed in part to make the venue capable of hosting major golf competitions. In 2025, Tiger Woods’s foundation opened its TGR Learning Lab Philadelphia location at the course, too.
“Cobbs Creek has such a phenomenal story,” Ryan says. “Tiger Woods is a partner in it. It has a huge youth education component, and it’s beautiful. So, if we could get the PGA Tour at Cobbs Creek to help tell a really rich story, I think that would be incredible.”
Philadelphia is one of the major markets PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has said the tour would like to play in on an annual basis, alongside Boston, New York, Chicago, and others.
The PGA Tour moved the 2025 edition of the Truist Championship, Charlotte’s annual tournament, to the Philadelphia Cricket Club since Quail Hollow Club in the Queen City was hosting the PGA Championship. The PGA Tour has not publicly pinpointed specific courses in the Philadelphia area it would like to play in moving forward.
Golf’s Big Business
Pennsylvania’s sports marketing and tourism program, which annually offers up to $5 million in incentive funds for major events, could be a key factor in the state landing more golf events, Ryan says.
The PGA Championship received a total of $2.5 million in state funding, according to Ryan.
“There is a cost to host these events,” Ryan says. “The state comes in, injects some dollars, because we know that it’s a force multiplier in terms of the economic impact. We invest $2.5 million in it, but this event alone is expected to generate $125 million. That’s a huge ROI.”
Attendance this week is expected to reach 200,000 fans. Corporate hospitality sales are well over $20 million, and mark the second-highest for a PGA Championship behind last year’s in Charlotte.
That financial success for the PGA translates to positive momentum for Pennsylvania’s long-term goals, which include plans as ambitious as landing the Super Bowl.
“It gives us permission to go and seek out and secure the next 10 years of championships,” Ryan says.
