Aaron Rai runs away with the PGA Championship, first English-born winner in more than a century
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pennsylvania: 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.
