The 2026 PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club is already teaching players a brutal lesson: don't go long of the back left pin. It's the kind of mistake that turns a birdie opportunity into a bogey—or worse.

Thursday's 11th hole measured just 421 yards, meaning most pros had a wedge in hand for their approach. With the pin placed 23 yards onto the green and nine yards from the left edge, it looked like a prime scoring chance. So players took dead aim. That's when the trouble started.

The unforgivable miss? Airmailing the pin and landing long. From behind, the 11th green doesn't look too intimidating. But the slope tells a different story. Miss long, even by just a few feet, and you're staring down an incredibly severe, almost directly downhill putt. One coach summed it up bluntly: "It's literally impossible to get up-and-down from where Bryson was."

Bryson DeChambeau learned this the hard way. He hit his wedge just 30 feet past the pin onto the fringe—then sent his putt 57 feet by the hole, making bogey. He wasn't alone. Of the 14 players who missed at least a foot onto the fringe long, none made the putt, and 30 percent three-putted. For context, the Tour average make rate from that distance is about 12 percent, with a 2 percent three-putt rate.

The situation gets worse from the rough. Four players missed the green long enough to end up in the thick stuff, and none of them got up and down. Bud Cauley was one of the few to escape with a two-putt, thanks to his ball landing inches onto the fringe. Even then, it wasn't pretty.

As the week continues, the message is clear: at Aronimink, short is safe. Long is a gamble you don't want to take.