Rai dominates back 9, races away from field

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) — Aaron Rai shifted into high gear Sunday and pulled away from a world-class field with one amazing shot after another until he became the first English-born player in more than a century to capture the PGA Championship. Rai, who dreamed of being a Formula 1 driver until he turned to golf as a boy, was three shots behind and approaching the turn at Aronimink Golf Club when he delivered a performance worthy of a major champion. He made a 40-foot eagle putt on the par-5 ninth during a stretch when he one-putted seven straight greens to take the lead. And on the closing holes when the contenders needed him to stumble, Rai holed a birdie putt of some 70 feet across the 17th green for the clincher. The 31-year-old Rai, who joins two-time PGA champion Vijay Singh as major champions of Indian heritage, closed with a 5-under 65. "To be here is outside my wildest imagination," Rai said. Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Cameron Smith, Justin Rose, all major champions, all of them in position until they were undone by untimely mistakes or failure to get good looks at birdie. McIlroy, who closed with a 69, played the par 5s in even for the week and he chopped up the reachable par-4 13th for a bogey. He also glared and softly cursed at a fan who said, "USA," after McIlroy hit a wedge from the rough to the bunker on the par-5 16th. It was an indication McIlroy knew his hopes were all but gone. Rai, who finished at 9-under 271, is the first player from England with his name on the Wanamaker Trophy since Jim Barnes in 1919, the second edition of this major and the first after World War I. He wound up winning by three shots over 54-hole leader Alex Smalley and Rahm, who had his best finish in a major since defecting to LIV Golf at the end of 2023. Rahm was slowed by a pair of bogeys on the front nine, and managed only one birdie on the back nine for a 68. Smalley lost the lead with a messy double bogey on the sixth hole, and his best golf was too late. Rai already had his eye on the Wanamaker Trophy. Smalley made birdie on the 18th for a 70. Justin Thomas made a 16-foot par putt on the final hole for a 65 and pulled him within one shot of the lead as the final group was in the second fairway. For the longest time, as Aronimink got tougher and the pressure got tighter, it looked like Thomas might have a chance. Like everything else on this final day, Rai ended those hopes, too. So concluded a most remarkable week in the Philadelphia suburbs, where no one could separate themselves on Aronimink. The 22 players within four shots of the lead going into the final round was a PGA Championship record. From that pack emerged the 31-year-old Rai, with one PGA Tour title, three on the European tour, and no finishes inside the top 15 at any of the majors. He might not be well known among casual observers, but he is a star in the eyes of his peers for his humility and gracious personality. "You won't find one person on property who's not happy for him," McIlroy said. "Super pumped for him and his team," Schauffele said. "All-world gentleman, no doubt." He wears two gloves, a habit he started as a kid in England to battle the cold winters when he was practicing — and he was always practicing. Even more unusual for Rai is the plastic covers on each iron, a reminder of his roots. He once said his father sacrificed to buy the nicest golf clubs and then would clean the grooves with baby oil after his son was done playing. Rai has left the iron covers on since then "to remember where I cam from and to respect what I have." "Anybody that uses head covers in his irons because he coveted his irons when he was a kid so much that he wanted to respect the equipment and to still do it? Yeah, it shows a lot about a person," Rahm said. "What he did today is nothing short of special." Those seven straight one-putts included a short putt for bogey on the par-3 eighth, leaving Rai three behind Matti Schmid, who had three birdies in a five-hole stretch on the front to take the lead. Rai hit 5-wood into the ninth for his 40-foot eagle putt. He saved par with a 10-foot putt on the 10th. He hit wedge to 4 feet to a dangerous pin on the 11th for birdie. He got up-and-down from behind the 12th green for par. And on the 292-yard 13th hole, which tripped up McIlroy and Schauffele and Nick Taylor of Canada when they were right in the mix, Rai blasted out of a bunker to 6 feet for a birdie to become the first player all week to reach 7 under. And then he kept right on going. Thomas wound up in a for fourth at 5-under 275 with Ludvig Aberg (69) and Schmid, whose 5-foot par putt on the 18th hole gets him into his first Masters next year. Smith, who didn't drop a shot until the 17th hole, had a 68 to join McIlroy and Schauffele (69) another shot back. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler missed a 4-foot birdie putt on the third hole and twice missed 3-foot par putts on the back nine in his closing round of 69 to tie for 14th, his first time out of the top 10 at a major since the 2024 U.S. Open. Rai now has a five-year exemption on the PGA Tour, and into the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open. He can play the PGA Championship for life. "Golf is an amazing game," Rai said. "It teaches you so many things, and it teaches you so much humility and discipline and absolute hard work because nothing is ever given in this game." Nothing was given to him Sunday. Rai simply outplayed the strongest field in golf and won it. ___ This version has been corrected to add Vijay Singh as a previous major champion of Indian heritage. ___ AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf