It took only 107 years, but another Englishman finally won the PGA Championship.
Cornwall’s Jim Barnes won the first two editions of the PGA Championship in 1916 and 1919, separated by the Great War. That inaugural Barnes victory came when he was employed as the head pro at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania, about 14 miles away from Aronimink, the site of last week’s 108th PGA. It’s Whitemarsh Valley that’s engraved next to Barnes’ name on the Wanamaker Trophy that now also bears Aaron Rai’s name.
Rai’s victory embodied two cliches – that nice guys can finish first, and slow and steady wins the race. While the triumph of the two-gloved 31-year-old of Indian and African descent from Wolverhampton in the Midlands may have come as a surprise, his performance was no fluke. Rai led the field in strokes gained tee-to-green and used his foundational skill set of accuracy to not only never shoot worse than par on a demanding course but improve every single round – 70-69-67-65. The last guy to shoot a better score in every round of a major to win was Mark O’Meara (74-70-68-67) in the 1998 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, but nobody other than Rai has ever done it without a single round over par.
Rai played his last 10 holes in 6-under to turn a leaderboard traffic jam akin to rush hour on the I-76 Schuylkill Expressway into a comfortable Sunday cruise to the finish and three-stroke victory. The last guy to play his final 10 holes en route to a major win better than Rai was Jack Nicklaus (7-under) down the stretch at the 1986 Masters. Nicklaus also improved his score each day at Augusta that year (74-71-69-65).
Rai won the big prize and now gets mentioned in sentences that include Nicklaus, but he was only part of the PGA story at “Aaron-imink.”
BIRDIE: Jon Rahm. He made a second straight valiant run at becoming the first Spanish winner of the PGA Championship, but he couldn’t make quite enough putts to do better than runner-up. The Spaniard generally runs hot, and sometimes outbursts have unintended consequences. Rahm’s angry swipe at the turf in the first round lifted a divot that struck a volunteer in the face. Rahm was genuinely sorry and embarrassed by what happened, and sought out the volunteer to apologize and offer a suitable gift to illustrate his contrition. He was fortunate to not receive a warning via the PGA’s newly implemented behavior rules. He seemed at peace by week’s end.
BOGEY: Negativity. The last thing we should do is complain about honest answers, because honesty is greatly appreciated over the safely vetted drivel so many players often spew. But Rory McIlroy didn’t display much respect for the course in his pre-tournament assessment before it bit him in an opening 74, and Scottie Scheffler’s gripes about “absurd” pin placements bordered on whining. Neither Aronimink nor PGA setup man Kerry Haigh deserved the abuse for a well-prepped venue.
BIRDIE: United Kingdom. The option of a calendar slam expired once again, but something never before accomplished is still on the table – a British Slam. England’s Rai following Northern Ireland’s McIlroy marked the first time Europeans have won the first two majors of the season since the Masters started in 1934. It’s certainly not out of the question for some combination of Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, Robert MacIntyre or Tyrrell Hatton to win the U.S. Open and Open to sweep the 2026 majors for the U.K.
BIRDIE: Justin Thomas. The two-time PGA champ hoped to make another big rally to win after putting himself behind the eight-ball with a stuttering finish Saturday that sent him to the driving range for some needed swing therapy like the kind that worked for him at Southern Hills in 2022 when he rallied from seven back. Only six behind to start this time, his Sunday 65 was capped by a 14-footer to save par on 18 that elicited a fist pump as he set the clubhouse mark at 5-under with the leaders just getting started. The T4 was his best major finish since his PGA win in 2022.
BIRDIE: Major champs. A record 12 past major winners were among the record 33 players within two shots of the lead on Day 1, surpassing the 11 in the early thick of it at the 1999 Masters. Seven of the 12 were past PGA champs (Kaymer, Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Jason Day, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa). By Sunday morning, 10 of them were still in the pack tied 12th or better and all 10 finished among the top 18 in red figures. Special shout-out to Pádraig Harrington (T18), who joined Sam Snead (five times) and Gene Sarazen as the only players 54 or older to finish among the top 20.
BOGEY: Rory McIlroy. The back-to-back Masters champ decried the lack of strategic values of Aronimink, citing it as simply a bomb-and-gouge venue. In that same presser, McIlroy admitted he was wrong about supporting a tour alliance with LIV, but it turns out he was more wrong about Aronimink. McIlroy routinely missed fairways (he hit only 41 percent, which ranked 75th) that left him out of position to take advantage of the par-5s (he was even par on them) or have the right angles into tucked pins. Turns out those things were pretty important as Rai, one of the shortest (66th in the field in distance) but most accurate (fourth) drivers took full advantage and won.
BIRDIE: Aronimink. Despite McIlroy’s clear dislike of the course and the questions it asks, Aronimink provided a pristine and glorious stage for a major and didn’t favor one particular style of attack. It looked absolutely magnificent on television and the cadence of holes – a scoreable front side capped by a gettable par-5 followed by a more-challenging back nine with a well-placed eagle opp on 16 followed by two stern finishers – made for a nice buildup of drama … at least until Rai snuffed that out.
PAR: Ludvig Åberg. The supremely gifted young Swede’s T4 was his best major finish since his solo second in his major debut at the 2024 Masters. Åberg was exceptional at Aronimink from tee (third in strokes gained) to green (sixth in approach), but his putter continues to let him down in the clutch. Stat guru Justin Ray noted that Åberg went a stretch of 33 holes from late Friday until the back nine on Sunday without making a single putt longer than 6 feet. Once he irons out his wrinkles, Åberg is going to be a force.
BOGEY: Scottie Scheffler. The defending champion’s putter let him down all week, as he was seemingly flummoxed by the greens in missing six putts inside 5 feet – the most by any player who made the cut. On Saturday he missed six putts inside 10 feet and fell from a shot off the lead to T25 and five behind the leader. On Sunday he hit 16 greens in regulation but needed 34 putts. He’ll need to get the flatstick and his frustrations with trying greens in line before he arrives at Shinnecock Hills if he wants to pick up the last piece of his career Grand Slam next month.
BIRDIE: Rank and file. No major is more within reach for the “average” professional than the PGA, even though a “name” player much more often than not lifts the Wanamaker Trophy. Aronimink offered a host of contenders a chance to become the next Rich Beem or Shaun Micheel in the major fraternity, and Rai stepped up despite no prior career top-10s in admittedly limited major experience (only 12 starts).
BIRDIE: Alex Smalley and Matti Schmid. Both unheralded members of the final pairing on Sunday had the chance to become the first player since John Daly in 1991 to make the PGA Championship his maiden victory. Neither won, but they distinguished themselves well by not backing down under pressure. Smalley’s share of runner-up and Schmid’s T4 earned each of them a chance to play in their first Masters next April. “Maybe it’s a springboard?” Smalley said.
BIRDIE: Cameron Smith. The 2022 Open and Players champion stepped out of the where-are-they-now file and contended on Sunday before stalling on the back nine and finishing as low Cameron at T7, snapping a streak of six consecutive missed cuts at majors. Before the PGA, Smith faced “one of the most difficult phone calls I’ve ever had to make” as he let go of swing coach Grant Field, who he’s worked with for 23 years, since Smith was 9. His new coach is Claude Harmon III, the son of Butch. Sometimes you just need a new voice in your ear.
DOUBLE: Garrick Higgo. It’s never a good sign when your caddie is screaming at you. Despite his bag handler’s shouts to get to the tee, Higgo arrived slightly late for his Thursday starting time and was dinged the penalty of spotting the entire field two strokes before he even started. He recovered with a 1-under 69, but could have been tied for the lead had he been prompt. Unfortunately, those two strokes ultimately cost him playing the weekend. Punctuality matters.
PAR: “Absurd” pins. Sure, a few holes were cut on corners and shelves and ridges the first two days where no Aronimink caddie had ever seen them placed before, but there was nothing unfair about any of them. Despite the wishes of star players who think they’re entitled to fire away at everything, not every hole has to be readily accessible on approach. Sometimes strategy requires playing away from tucked flags in order to have the best chance to make par at worst. Deal with it.
BIRDIE: Terry Clark. The new CEO of the PGA of America got through his first big test with flying colors. Granted, the bar was pretty low after the last year of turmoil in the PGA’s hierarchy. But Clark says all the right things and provides the competent leadership the organization has missed since Seth Waugh stepped down. And he seems focused on doing right by the PGA Championship and Ryder Cup. “I feel very confident that the PGA of America has the ability to take these crown jewel assets – these really, really meaningful assets in the world of golf – and continue to make them better.”
BIRDIE: Philadelphia. There may be no more American big city than Philly, where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were adopted and the Liberty Bell rang in 1776. But Philly’s two major venues haven’t produced an American winner since before the bicentennial (Lee Trevino in 1971 U.S. Open at Merion, and even he goes by the nickname “Merry Mex”). The last two major winners at Merion were Australian David Graham (1981) and England’s Justin Rose (2013), while Aronimink has yielded South African Gary Player (1962) and Rai.
PAR: Stephan Jaeger. The German-American went full Faldo in the second round, posting 18 consecutive pars to remain within a shot of the lead. Jaeger made 29 straight pars through the first five holes Saturday but only one (on a par-5) in the ensuing seven holes to slip to the back of the peloton. He eventually finished a major career-best T18.
BOGEY: Bryson DeChambeau. Maybe if LIV Golf doesn’t survive as an option and he doesn’t like the PGA Tour’s conditions for return, DeChambeau can become a PGA professional. His performance in the opening round – a 6-over 76 – was more in line with members of the Corebridge Financial team of PGA club pros in the field than for a two-time U.S. Open champion. Imagine the students he could reach through YouTube lessons.
BIRDIE: Martin Kaymer. The past PGA (2010) and U.S. Open (2014) champion was motivated to a share of first place with an opening 67 after a PGA of America official seated next to him at the champions’ dinner asked him if he still played golf. “Yeah, that’s why I’m here; I’m not flying from Europe to here to have a New York strip with you guys,” said the captain of LIV’s Cleeks. Did the disappeared Don Rea resurface at the dinner? Kaymer, 41, eventually finished T35.
BIRDIE: Kurt Kitayama. He became the ninth player to fire a record-low 63 in the final round of a major, vaulting 54 spots up the leaderboard to T10. Only two players have ever won shooting 63 on Sunday – Johnny Miller in 1973 U.S. Open at Oakmont and Henrik Stenson in 2016 Open at Royal Birkdale. Kitayama is only the second to shoot 63 in the final round of the PGA, joining Brad Faxon in 1995 at Riviera.
BIRDIE: Ben Kern. Shooting his second career 67 in a PGA Championship on Friday, the 41-year-old general manager at Hickory Hills Golf Club in Ohio made his second PGA Championship cut, joining Rob Labritz (2010 and 2019) as the only club pros to make multiple PGA cuts since 2010. Kern also shot 67 in the third round in 2018 at Bellerive en route to T42 finish.