England’s Aaron Rai has produced a stunning final 10 holes to blow the field away in the US PGA Championship and land his first major victory.
He is the first Englishman to win the PGA Championship since Jim Barnes in 1919 and the first Englishman to win strokeplay. Americans had claimed this major each of the past 10 years.
Rai was three shots off the lead held by Germany’s Matti Schmid when he made an incredible eagle at the ninth after making bogeys at the sixth and the eighth hole.
That was all he needed to change his momentum and take over the tournament. He made a birdie at the 11th, then the 13th after an outstanding chip out of the bunker. He finished with a final round of 65 to become the first PGA champion to record a lower score each round of the tournament with 70, 69, 67 and 65.
A strong birdie at the 16th after a 338-yard drive led to the pièce de résistance at the 17th hole when he made a 68-foot putt to make birdie. It was all over then. “I definitely wasn’t trying to make that putt ... the shadow of the pin gave me a really nice line for the last 10 feet,” Rai said.
His best result at a major tournament had been 19th, but it was his day on Sunday as he recorded his lowest round at a major with a -5 65.
“This is definitely outside of my wildest imagination,” Rai said.
Rai, who wears gloves on both hands, is of Indian Heritage and began playing golf when his mum purchased plastic golf clubs after he was injured playing with hockey sticks with his brother.
Rai is known as one of the most humble players on the tour and his victory was not met with any histrionics. The 31-year-old tapped in his final putt, stood up and gave a shy wave to the crowd before hugging his caddie. His parents had to work hard to give him the chance to play golf. He still covers his irons as a matter of principle to remind him of the value attached to each club.
The chasers he passed were quality players, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Cam Smith among those trying to catch him.
Rai has been in good form but has only won once previously on the PGA Tour. He hit 10 of the 14 fairways.
Smith was brilliant, breaking his run of six consecutive cuts at major tournaments and then being just one shot off the lead for most of the final day after three under on the front nine. But he could not make the putts to make birdie on the back nine and a bogey at 17 finished his hopes.
His driver gave him problems (he was last in the field for driving accuracy) and he only hit three fairways for the round. But he scrambled hard and his short game did not desert him.
Smith finished T7. Min Woo Lee finished T18 after +1 on Sunday. Jason Day finished T65 after dropping seven shots in the final two rounds. Elvis Smylie finished T75. Adam Scott and Travis Smyth missed the cut.
Overnight leader Alex Smalley again had problems on the front nine but bounced back well to finish even par and in equal second. He will be pleased he held his nerve while Schmid held on to a top four spot which gives him exemptions into majors.
Final Leaderboard
-9 Aaron Rai (England)
-6 Jon Rahm (Spain), Alex Smalley (USA)
-5 Justin Thomas (USA), Ludvig Aberg (Sweden), Matti Schmid (Germany)
- 4 Cam Smith (Australia), Rory McIlory (Ireland), Xander Schauffle (USA)