West Chester native and golf star Jim Furyk expects passion from Philadelphia sports fans at PGA Championship

As the world gets ready for the competition at the 2026 PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club, golfers on the PGA Tour are hearing a lot about Philadelphia sports fans.

Yes, there are plenty of rules limiting what spectators can do, but in Philly, will they be ready to heckle or boo?

For a local perspective, we caught up with West Chester native Jim Furyk. While he's not competing this time, he's no stranger to big events and was one of the best golfers in the world for about 20 years.

He is the Ryder Cup captain in 2027 and spent a lot of his time in this area as a kid, splitting his childhood between Chester County and Pittsburgh.

Here's what Jim told us:

Well, I've got to be careful because I'm from this area. (Laughter)

Everyone knows that I do root for the Sixers. Tough series. Probably expended a lot of energy winning the first series. But everyone knows I'm a Steeler fan; I'm a Pirate fan; I'm a Penguin fan. I know that hurts.

I would say obviously very passionate. I grew up in the area where all my friends are Philly fans. When they're playing well, when the Phillies are winning the World Series, they're showing up in droves. When they're playing bad, they're still showing up in droves, but they're just going to let you know that you're not playing so well. You're going to hear some boos. You're going to hear — some rough times.

But you've got to give them credit because they're passionate either way, and they do love their city, and they do love their sports teams.

The Philly faithful could have a little more steam to let off than usual after the rough weekend we've had, with the Flyers getting swept by the Carolina Hurricanes and the Sixers ending their playoff run — and the Daryl Morey era — in the second round.

As for Jim, his Penguins just got rocked by the Flyers. 

But he's a good man; he got excited when I told him I was a proud West Chester University graduate.