Aaron Rai, 31, became the first Englishman to win a Wanamaker Trophy in the major's stroke-play era, with an exclamation point at the 17th hole.
Major champions are an eclectic bunch. For every Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus, there’s a Jack Fleck and Shaun Micheel. Going into the final round of the PGA Championship, 30 players were within five strokes of Alex Smalley’s 54-hole lead.
Eleven of them were major champions. Aaron Rai, a 31-year-old with one PGA Tour win to his name , would hoist the Wanamaker Trophy after a grueling week at Aronimink Golf Club as the sun basked over the City of Brotherly Love. The world No. 41 became the first Englishman to claim the PGA since Jim Barnes in 1919—which was just the second edition of the tournament.
The major wouldn’t transition from match play to stroke play until 1958. Rai, with a Sunday 65, his lowest round in a major championship, finished at 9 under par, three strokes ahead of Smalley and Rahm. He began the final day tied for second with Schmid, Ludvig Aberg and Nick Taylor. And entering the back nine, the leaderboard was still jammed, leaving the door open for someone—anyone!
—to make a move, as Justin Thomas held the clubhouse lead at 5 under. One over par through his first eight holes, he was three back.
Then, he holed a 40-foot eagle putt on the par-5 9th. Two holes later, he plopped his approach from 96 yards to 4 feet, tying Matti Schmid’s lead. And Rai would stand alone atop the leaderboard after the par-4 13th. It was that hole where Rai hit arguably the most consequential shot of his win.
A drivable, 299-yard par-4, Rai’s tee shot fell in the front right bunker, just missing the green. But Rai knocked his bunker shot inside 7 feet and made the birdie putt. Still, there was a lot of golf to be played, but Rai wasn’t fazed. If he just parred out, he’d likely be the champion.
On the par-5 16th, Rai smashed his drive 338 yards en route to a birdie. He led by three. The next hole, the par-3 17th, he put the nail in the coffin with a 68-foot birdie putt. Those behind Rai on the leaderboard seemed to be stuck in neutral all day.
Rahm shot 68 and Smalley tied him with closing birdie that capped a final-round 70. Thomas, Schmid and Ludvig Åberg were T4, and one stroke back of that trio was Cam Smith , Mcilroy and Schauffele . Rai tends to do unique things. He wears two gloves.
He uses iron covers, paying homage to his humble upbringing, where he cherished clubs his father bought him, ones his family couldn’t necessarily afford. So shocking the world and putting his name alongside the unlikely major champions like Fleck and Micheel, to name a few, isn’t out of the ordinary. It’s the moment he worked a lifetime for. Only now, the goal for the rest of his career is to keep climbing and put his name alongside the greats.
Regardless, he’ll always be part of golf lore after his spectacular Sunday in Philadelphia. Max Schreiber is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, covering golf. Before joining SI in October 2024, the Mahwah, N.J. , native, worked as an associate editor for the Golf Channel and wrote for RyderCup.com and FanSided.
He is a multiplatform producer for Newsday and has a bachelor's in communications and journalism from Quinnipiac University. In his free time, you can find him doing anything regarding the Yankees, Giants, Knicks and Islanders.
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