May 17, 2026
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Aaron Rai seemingly came out of nowhere to take his first major title Sunday.
The first golf major championship held in the Philly area since the U.S. Open at Merion in 2013 definitely made its mark on the golf world.
Arguably the best field of the entire golf season ascended on Aronimink Golf Club in Newton Square, PA this weekend and the competition was about frustrating and eventful as golf can get.
In a tournament with unprecedented parity throughout, even down to the wire, no one seized real control of the championship. The best golfers on the planet had opportunities to take control, and almost each and every time an unforced error set a player back, paired with Aronimink's sharp biting teeth.
Like Rory McIlroy, who stood at the tee of the drivable par-4 13th hole behind by just two shots. A birdie gets him right in the heat of competition. But the reigning two-time Masters champ sliced a three-wood onto the neighboring hole and dropped further behind with a bogey.
Eventually, Aaron Rai, a relatively unknown English by way of Indian golfer, broke away from the pack, staking out a back nine lead that he would parlay into a title thanks in part to this insane 68-foot birdie putt on the daunting par-3 17th that put him up by an insurmountable three shots.
AARON RAI.
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) May 17, 2026
INSANE BIRDIE ON 17 TO GO UP THREE AT THE PGA. PURE AURA. pic.twitter.com/0fsSbqDj4K
He was cool as a cucumber in the biggest moment of his life — most of us would be ripping our shirt off running across that big green.
Rai shot a 31 on the back nine at Aronimink. He was tied for 15th after 36 holes but turned it on when the weather got warmer this weekend.
Rai is a pretty unique player, adorned with two black gloves and moving at an extremely thoughtful deliberate pace around the golf course. He's now a major Champion at age 31 and has played himself onto centerstage in the golf world.
He's also loved buy his fellow golfers.
"You won't find one person on property who's not happy for him," McIlroy said Sunday.
"He's such a good dude," Xander Schauffele also told media members. "Rarely do you feel like people work way harder than you... I think that's what it's about to be a major champion. You put the work in when nobody's looking. Super pumped for him and his team."
Close but no cigar for a few household names in pursuit, including McIlroy, John Rahm and Justin Thomas, who held the clubhouse lead for more than three hours before heading home having missed out on a playoff by a few strokes. The top finishers:
| Golfer | Score |
| Aaron Rai | -9 |
| Jon Rahm | -6 |
| Alex Smalley | -6 |
| Matthias Schmid | -5 |
| Justin Thomas | -5 |
| Ludvig Åberg | -5 |
| Rory McIlroy | -4 |
| Cameron Smith | -4 |
| Xander Schauffele | -4 |
Saturday's third round was wild too, particularly within the confines of a tournament with 108 years of history. A whopping 14 different golfers held at least a portion of the lead at some point, with a just as whopping 22 golfers within six shots of the lead entering the final round.
The set up at Aronimink received some criticism, with tricky pin placements making it feel more like the U.S. Open than anything else.
"I mean, to be honest, it's the first day I've played without 25-mile-an-hour winds," surprise top-5 finisher Justin Thomas said after his final round 65. "It's been absolutely brutal conditions I played in the last — Scottie [Scheffler] and I were talking about that last night because we were a group apart all three days. We played in 20, 25 mile an hour the first two days, and then we kind of hit that window perfectly yesterday of started just late enough to where it was pretty much as we were starting and went throughout the whole round again."
The last time the PGA Tour stopped at Aronimink, Keegan Bradley out-dueled Justin Rose in a playoff with both turning in 20-under scores. The winning 72-hole score in 2026 was just 9-under.
"Any place is tough with that much wind, but this place with how the course is setup and everything, it's extremely tough," Thomas said.
But eventually low rounds did get posted as the wind died down and the weather heated up.
And Rai took advantage, shooting his own 65 with the rest of the top of the field unable to get any momentum.
The next big event in Philly, at least as of now, is the 2030 U.S. Open, back at Merion. After a weekend like the one Thomas and company had at Aronimink, you'd think they would want to run away and never come back. But the players love the tough test and seem to all agree the PGA needs to find a way to be in the Philly area regularly.
"I've said to a couple guys, players and my caddie this week, it's like I hope we come to this area more," Thomas said. "These golf courses are awesome. It's like I'd love to go back to Philly Cricket Club somehow. I'd love to go back. They were about three or four weeks away, it seemed like, weather-wise, from really, really — from being like this place, right? It's just a crazy amount of fans have come out, and it's been great energy. Just the golf courses in this part of the country, I think, look great."
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