PGA Championship ready to host ‘passionate’ Philly fans at Aronimink after fan-free 2020 women’s event

Jackie Endsley had what she called a “déjà vu moment” earlier this year when the call came to take on what sort of is a second job.

Endsley, the 2026 PGA Championship director, already was based in Bethesda, Md., preparing for the 2027 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Congressional Country Club when Ryan Ogle, the previous director of this year’s men’s championship at Newtown Square’s Aronimink Golf Club, decided to step down.

Endsley had familiarity with the famed, nearly 100-year-old Aronimink, having served as the director for the women’s championship here in 2020. There will be, however, one major difference between this year’s event and Aronimink’s last major golf event: fans.

A lot of them.

The pandemic forced the October 2020 event to be held without spectators. This one, which begins with practice rounds on May 11, is expected to have more than 200,000 fans walking through the gates over seven days. The course, which has been closed to members since November, has been transformed into a spectator-friendly championship venue, and the process is ongoing.

“It does change every single day,” Endsley said recently. “The build out will kind of refine. It’s all about making sure that the experience is going to be fine-tuned.”

Hospitality tents, bars, food vendors, bathrooms, studios for ESPN and CBS, parking lots, and shuttles, it’s all part of it. Ogle, Endsley said, already had the tournament in good shape before she took over in late January.

Ogle grew tired of moving around so often and wanted to set up roots for his family. The director job usually requires a two-year stay in a given event’s location to oversee all that goes into running a golf major. Endsley, who has directed six PGA of America majors, keeps an Airbnb in the area, but kept her home base in Maryland ahead of the 2027 event.

Having the recent experience of running the show for a big event in Philly proved beneficial, she said, and the Aronimink leadership being mostly the same from 2020 meant for an easy transition.

“A lot of our execution phase is very similar, the timelines are very similar, the scope and scale is just a little bit different,” Endsley said.

Tickets and hospitality tents sold out fast. Last year’s success for the PGA Tour’s Truist Championship at Philadelphia Cricket Club showed that the region is full of golf fans who will show up, cheer, and spend money.

“This is such an area that’s rich in tradition,” Endsley said. “We’re really excited to build upon that.”

Endsley noted that this has been a “whirlwind.” A four-month stretch filling in for Ogle is nearing its end, and an event that’s essentially been eight years in the making is getting closer.

“It becomes family,” Endsley said. “It becomes home. And then when all is said and done it’s time to pack up and start again.”

For local golf fans, the hope will be that similar events are in the future. The 2030 U.S. Open is back at Merion.

“The Philadelphia sports scene is unmatched,” Endsley said. “I’m a native Midwesterner, so it’s very different coming in here. I always go back to the word ‘passionate.’ They’re just passionate sports fans that love to have fun. We want to just make sure they leave here thinking, ‘Wow, that was a must-attend event, and we can’t wait to either have another event hosted in Philadelphia or to go to another event elsewhere.’”