Newtown Square, Pa. Fireworks were certainly front and center for the final round of the 108th PGA Championship at Aronimink.

There were 22 players within 4 shots of the lead entering Sunday’s final round — a new PGA Championship record, eclipsing the mark of 18, set in 1993 at Inverness Club. That championship ended up having a playoff, with Paul Azinger defeating Greg Norman.

Aaron Rai began the final round two shots behind Alex Smalley. The 31-year-old scored the lowest round of his life in a major championship with a five-under-par 65 which secured a three-shot win over both Jon Rahm and Smalley.

Rai is the first Englishman to have won the PGA Championship since the event went to a 72-hole stroke play format in 1958 and the first to do so dating back to 1919 when the event was conducted at match-play.

How improbable was the victory for Rai? DraftKings Sportsbook reported it had Rai at 290-1 to win the Wannamaker Trophy on Thursday morning just before the tournament at Aronimink Golf Club began. Rai is the biggest long shot to win a major in at least the past 20 years, surpassing Phil Mickelson at the 2021 PGA Championship and Louis Oosthuizen at the 2010 Open Championship. Both were 200-1.

Each of the last 10 PGA Championships were won by Americans. The last non-American was Jason Day in 2015 at Whistling Straits. The last European to win the PGA Championship was Rory McIlroy in 2014 at Valhalla GC.

Rai demonstrated exemplary golf starting with a 45-foot putt for eagle at the par-5 9th. He then played the more difficult inward half, making a total of four birdies and not a single blemish on the scorecard.

The highlight came at the penultimate hole when he sank a 68-foot birdie putt to put the championship out of reach. The length of that putt was the second longest made during the championship.

Every angle of Aaron Rai's INSANE 68-foot birdie putt on 17 @PGAChampionship 🤯 pic.twitter.com/3GtUpljBdt

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 17, 2026

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Rai’s 65 was matched by Justin Thomas and for quite a long period of time the 275 total from the two-time PGA Championship winner appeared to be on solid ground for at least a playoff.

Rai’s six-under-par score over the final 10 holes in a major championship matched what Cameron Smith did at the 2002 Open Championship. Only Jack Nicklaus, who scored a seven-under-par effort when winning the 1986 Masters bettered his performance.

During the final round the presence of multiple major champions Rory McIlroy and Rahm were ever present but each failed to convert on various opportunities presented.

Rai receives a five-year exemption on the PGA Tour and invitations to the Masters, US Open and Open Championship for the next five years. As for the PGA Championship, he is welcome back for life and earned a $3.7 million payday.

Beyond the stellar play of Rai an equal measure of success goes to how Aronimink proved a vexing issue for the world’s best players. The Donald Ross course was humbled when the 2018 BMW Championship was played there with the winning score being twenty-under-par. No player was able to reach double-digit under-par for this year’s PGA Championship.

The devilish greens, with an array of confounding internal movements and shelves, was aided by dense rough lining the fairways. Aronimink yielded only to the most proficient of players and it was Rai who masterfully achieved possession of the Wannamaker Trophy with his brilliant execution down-the-stretch.

How apropos in the 50th anniversary of the release of the movie Rocky, a longshot golfer could mirrohttps://youtu.be/rqlh0XphVns?si=UQrjaBdSSr745-44r what the adopted son of Philadelphia achieved in the boxing ring.

Aaron Rai became the main man on the main line.

Yes indeed.

Related: Ben Kern takes low PGA of America Golf Professional honors at 108th PGA Championship

Southern Ohio PGA Section Member claims honor for the second time in three attempts.

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Thisa & Thata

• Europeans have won the first two majors of the year for the first time ever in the four-majors era (since 1934).

• Aaron Rai becomes the third PGA Championship winner in the last 15 years to have an eagle in the final round. Collin Morikawa famously did that at TPC Harding Park on the par-4 16th hole in 2020; and Rory McIlroy did that on the 10th hole at 2014 at Valhalla GC in an eventual one-stroke victory over Phil Mickelson.

• Aaron Rai was tied for 15th place on the leaderboard at the halfway mark of this championship. Here are the only other players to win a PGA Championship and be ranked 15th or worse after 36 holes:

• Aaron Rai joins this list of English major champions since 1940:

• Aaron Rai, who shot 70-69-67-65, becomes the first champion in PGA Championship history to lower his score in each round. It happened only seven previous times in all major championships:

• The great-grandson of Rodman Wanamaker, the American businessman who founded the PGA during his remarkable career, was in attendance and given a chance to see what a marvel the PGA Championship has become. “It’s amazing that it’s being held in Philadelphia, because I’m from Philadelphia,” said John Wanamaker, whose great-grandfather lived from 1863-1928.

“A sense of pride,” he said, when asked what it was like to stand next to the 29 ½ – inch high trophy that is named after his great-grandfather and presented to the winner. “My heart swells up. I have a strong sense of pride.”

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