Aaron Rai pulls away from loaded field to win PGA Championship - ESPN

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Until Sunday, Aaron Rai was best known for being the PGA Tour golfer who played with two gloves.

Now, Rai will be remembered as the first English-born golfer to win the PGA Championship in more than a century after his stunning victory at Aronimink Golf Club.

In a final round in which none of the game's biggest stars seemed capable of taking control, Rai finally did and won the Wanamaker Trophy after a 5-under 65. His 72-hole total of 9-under 271 was three strokes better than Jon Rahm and Alex Smalley.

Rai said he wasn't aware of England's 107-year drought without a PGA Championship until Saturday.

«Yeah, extremely, extremely proud,» Rai said. «There's a lot of incredible and historic English players over those hundred years who have gone on to achieve incredible things and had phenomenal careers, but to win this event and then to be the person that's the first one to have won it in a long time from England is an amazing thing and something to be extremely proud of.»

After making a couple of big mistakes on the front nine, Rai made an eagle on the par-5 ninth and four birdies on the back without a bogey to pull away from golf's deepest field.

«I'm super happy for him,» two-time major champion Xander Schauffele said. «He's such a good dude. Rarely do you feel like people work way harder than you. I feel like I've played a pretty good amount of time, and Aaron is always there. He's always in the gym. He's always on the range. I think that's what it's about to be a major champion. You put the work in when nobody's looking.»

Added Rory McIlroy: «You won't find one person on the property who's not happy for him.»

Rai's knockout blows came on back-to-back birdies on Nos. 16 and 17. He sank a 68½-foot putt