{"id":9692,"date":"2026-05-29T19:45:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T19:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/9692\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T19:45:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T19:45:13","slug":"aaron-rai-wins-pga-championship-with-help-from-wild-putt-for-first-major-title-in-stunner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/9692\/","title":{"rendered":"Aaron Rai wins PGA Championship with help from wild putt for first major title in stunner"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. \u2014 Aaron Rai couldn\u2019t believe his eyes.<\/p>\n

For all intents and purposes, he already had the PGA Championship won.<\/p>\n

The Wanamaker Trophy engraver was loosening up her hands and sharpening her chisel.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old Englishman with parents of Indian descent, who\u2019s known as perhaps the nicest person on the PGA Tour, had already emerged from a crowded pack consisting of golf\u2019s biggest stars to position himself as the latest PGA champion.<\/p>\n

The forever signature moment, though, came on the 17th green, where Rai rolled in a curling 68-foot birdie putt to get to 9 under par with a four-shot lead.<\/p>\n

It was the second-longest putt made all week.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Aaron Rai (r.) reacts on the 18th green on May 17. AP Photo<\/p>\n

When the ball disappeared into the hole, Rai just stood frozen on the green with a bewildered look on his face as massive crowds around it went as berserk as they would for a Saquon Barkley 70-yard TD run.<\/p>\n

After Rai closed things out on 18 and walked off the green clutching hands with his wife, Gaurika, he took a long look at the shiny Wanamaker Trophy, which was sitting on a stand.<\/p>\n

It was his.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery surreal,\u2019\u2019 Rai said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a bit of a frustrating season. Standing here is definitely outside of my broadest imagination.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Aaron Rai of England poses with The Wanamaker Trophy after winning the 2026 PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club on May 17, 2026 in Newtown, Pennsylvania. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Rai, who\u2019s been known mostly for his habits of wearing two gloves and having covers for all of his irons, had one career PGA Tour win \u2014 the 2024 Wyndham Classic.<\/p>\n

In nine tournaments this year, he had only one top 10 finish \u2014 a fifth at last week\u2019s Myrtle Beach Classic, an opposite-field event while the big boys played in the Truist Championship, the PGA Tour \u201csignature\u2019\u2019 event at Quail Hollow.<\/p>\n

Rai won\u2019t be playing in any opposite-field events for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s now one of the big boys, as this week changed his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cGolf is an amazing game,\u2019\u2019 Rai said. \u201cIt teaches you so much humility and discipline and hard work. Nothing is given in this game.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

He earned everything he got this week, particularly Sunday.<\/p>\n

The putt on 17?<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely wasn\u2019t trying to hole that putt,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u201cThe shadow of the pin gave a really nice line for the last 10 feet and that helped with the visual of the putt. I was just trying to put good speed on it.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Aaron Rai of England and caddie Jason Timmis embrace on the 18th green during the final round of the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club on May 17, 2026. Getty Images<\/p>\n

He put perfect speed on it.<\/p>\n

Rai is the first Englishman to win the PGA Championship in the stroke-play era, which began in 1958.<\/p>\n

He, too, is the first non-American to win the PGA since Aussie Jason Day won it in 2015 at Whistling Straits.<\/p>\n

The 5-under-par 65 Rai shot was the round of his life.<\/p>\n

It also happened to be the lowest round of his career in a major championship \u2014 by two shots.<\/p>\n

He played the final 10 holes in 6 under par.<\/p>\n

Rai\u2019s victory was highly popular in the players\u2019 locker room.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou won\u2019t find one person on property who\u2019s not happy for him,\u2019\u2019 Rory McIlroy said after finishing tied for seventh at 4 under<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t spent a lot of time with him, but I have heard consistently there\u2019s very few people that are nicer and kinder human beings than Aaron Rai,\u2019\u2019 Jon Rahm, who finished tied for second at 6 under, said. \u201cHe\u2019s a fantastic golfer. What he did today is nothing short of special. What Aaron did today, catching him could have been very difficult.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Aaron Rai, of England, and wife Gaurika Bishnoi hold the Wanamaker Trophy after winning the PGA Championship golf tournament at Aronimink Golf Club, Sunday, May 17, 2026. AP Photo\/Frank Franklin II<\/p>\n

Xander Schauffele, who finished tied for seventh, called Rai an \u201call-world gentleman\u2019\u2019 and raved about his work ethic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m super happy for him,\u2019\u2019 Schauffele said. \u201cHe\u2019s such a good dude. He\u2019s always in the gym. He\u2019s always on the range. He puts the work in when nobody\u2019s looking. I\u2019m super pumped for him and his team.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Matti Schmid, who finished tied for fourth at 5 under, called Rai \u201cmaybe the most hardworking guy on tour,\u2019\u2019 adding, \u201cHe does a lot of things the right way, and that\u2019s why he\u2019s the winner today.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

All week, the leaderboard at Aronimink resembled a typical afternoon of congestion on the Schuylkill Expressway to get into Center City Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

Angst and aggravation were the prevailing emotions from the players, who were battered and bruised in the first two rounds by the difficult pin positions and steady wind.<\/p>\n

Entering Sunday\u2019s final round, there was a long list of players with a legitimate chance to win, each having his own point to prove.<\/p>\n

The leaderboard showed a who\u2019s who of the game\u2019s top players who began the day with a legitimate chance to win \u2014 world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, McIlroy, Rahm, Schauffele, Patrick Reed, Cam Smith and 54-hole leader Alex Smalley, who entered the day with a two-shot lead.<\/p>\n

In the end, the right person and player emerged from the pack and had his name rightfully engraved on the Wanamaker.<\/p>\n

Even if Aaron Rai couldn\u2019t believe it was him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. \u2014 Aaron Rai couldn\u2019t believe his eyes. For all intents and purposes, he already had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9693,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[415,960,531,144,2965],"class_list":["post-9692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pga-championship","tag-aaron-rai","tag-aronimink-golf-club","tag-pga-championship","tag-pga-tour","tag-wanamaker-trophy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}