Winners, disappointments and looking ahead following the 2026 PGA Championship
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — The 108th PGA Championship was filled with surprises from the issue of the setup to world No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler‘s placing to Aaron Rai‘s gorgeous win.
Rai, who was largely identified for carrying two black gloves whereas enjoying, pulled away for a 3-stroke victory to win his first main and grew to become the first English-born golfer to triumph in the PGA Championship in additional than a century.
He’ll get a five-year exemption on the PGA Tour and invites to the Masters, US Open and Open Championship for the subsequent 5 years and a lifetime one to the PGA Championship.
“Golf is an amazing game,” stated Rai, who had 290-1 odds to win the Wanamaker Trophy in line with DraftKings. “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.”
Here’s a glance again at what transpires at Aronimink Golf Club and what to sit up for in the US Open, the subsequent main, which will probably be held at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York, in June.
What do you assume we will anticipate from Aaron Rai for the remainder of the season?
Mark Schlabach: I had a buddy recommend that Rai lifting the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday was the equal of YE Yang’s victory in 2009, when the South Korean outlasted Tiger Woods in the ultimate spherical to win by three strokes at Hazeltine Golf Club in Minnesota.
Yang took down the biggest golfer of his technology, and Rai pulled away from the deepest subject in golf.
I feel Rai is a greater golfer than Yang. He gained 4 instances on the DP World Tour and now he has gained 9 instances round the world. He’s considered one of the greatest iron gamers on tour, rating twenty fourth in strokes gained: method (.435). Yes, he does not hit the ball that far off the tee (291.1 yards), however he is fourth in driving accuracy (291.1 yards).
Rai’s victory at Aronimink was a stunner, however he had fared nicely in majors the previous couple of seasons. He made the reduce in every of the final 9 and tied for nineteenth in each the PGA Championship and US Open in 2024.
I’m unsure that Rai will win one other main, however I would not be shocked to see him win just a few extra instances on tour.
Paolo Uggetti: There’s nothing like the confidence that profitable a serious championship brings, however given how unbelievable Rai’s victory is, it is truthful to marvel how that confidence will precisely translate into future outcomes — be it on the PGA Tour or at the subsequent crop of majors.
Rai had recorded only one top-10 end on tour this season and it was final week’s reverse subject occasion at Myrtle Beach. His lone win got here again at the Wyndham Championship in 2024, though he did beat out Tommy Fleetwood in a DP World Tour event playoff at Abu Dhabi simply six months in the past.
It will probably be straightforward to lump Rai with the off-the-board main winners over the previous few years: JJ Spaun, Brian Harman, Wyndham Clark. But given the whole lot we have now heard about Rai and his relentless work ethic, it additionally would not be too shocking to see him discover his means into competition once more.
One factor that will probably be intriguing to observe is Rai’s potential Ryder Cup probabilities heading into subsequent 12 months at Adare Manor. Ace captain Luke Donald Expressed this previous week, the European staff has but to completely lay out what their factors system will appear like. Rai will certainly get a lift from profitable a serious, however sustaining robust play over the course of this 12 months and subsequent will go a great distance towards him making the staff.
“I try not to consciously focus on it too much. These things are always around, whether it’s Ryder Cup, whether it’s the next event, whether it’s the next major,” Rai stated. “So those are things that you can never completely ignore, but I try not to focus on them as real motivations to push me forward. I hope to continue to move in a pretty similar way in terms of practice, training, application towards the game, and we’ll see where that takes me.”
Biggest winners from PGA Championship?
Schlabach: Alex Smalley He confirmed some nerves in the ultimate spherical whereas making an attempt to win his first PGA Tour occasion, no much less a serious championship.
After holding at the very least a share of the lead in every of the first three rounds, Smalley made a double-bogey on No. 6 and a bogey on No. 8 to fall off the tempo. But the 29-year-old recovered on the again 9, and his eagle on the sixteenth and birdie on the 18th helped him end in a tie for second with Jon Rahm at 6 beneath.
The top-four end earned Smalley his first journey to the Masters subsequent 12 months, in addition to a return to the 2027 PGA Championship in Frisco, Texas.
“Thrilled to be going to Augusta next year,” Smalley stated. “I knew that top four and ties, I believe it is, gets you into Augusta. So I knew that was a possibility. I wasn’t really thinking about it honestly until I hit the green on 18 [and] saw where I was.”
Smalley’s sport had been trending heading into the PGA Championship. He’d had 5 straight top-25 finishes on tour, together with a tie for seventh in the Cadillac Championship and for seventeenth in the Truist Championship.
He’s sixteenth in strokes gained: whole (1,037) this season, in addition to twenty fifth in approaching (.416) and thirty second in placing (.327). The sport is there for him to make some noise this summer time.
Uggetti: I feel you may make a case that Rahm was each a winner and a disappointment this week, so I’ll use this house to speak about him.
After one other noncompetitive efficiency at the Masters this 12 months, plus the impending uncertainty with LIV’s futurethere was quite a lot of consideration surrounding Rahm — what he would say and how we’d play. While he did not disclose a lot about his future or how he has modified his method given his current efficiency at the majors, Rahm went out and had his greatest end at a serious (T-2) since profitable at Augusta in 2023.
“As far as I’m concerned, to be in the mix again and hit it as good as I did and perform as well as I did this weekend, it’s been a great week,” Rahm stated. “When the pressure is the highest in majors, some of those things you’re working on, those weak links can damage the foundation, right? Just happy that all those things I felt like I could have done better at Augusta ended up working out this week.”
At the identical time, one may make the case that Rahm squandered a golden alternative. With no different massive names actually making a run at the lead Sunday at Aronimink, the Spaniard was proper there and was far and away the greatest participant to have an opportunity of working down Rai. He performed a extremely good spherical of golf Sunday and simply did not have the type of scoring he would have wanted to maintain up.
“The margin, even though it’s three shots, it can be so small honestly.” Rahm stated. “I feel like I’m playing really good golf and definitely played good enough this week to give myself a chance to win. So keep doing what I’ve been doing well.”
Biggest disappointment from PGA Championship?
Schlabach: For the second straight main, LIV Golf League captain Bryson DeChambeau wasn’t round for the weekend, and it’s important to marvel if LIV Golf’s unsure future has one thing to do with it.
Yes, Rahm and Australia’s Cameron Smith (tie for seventh) did not appear fazed by the proven fact that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will not finance LIV Golf past this season. Rahm and Smith have multiyear contacts with LIV Golf, whereas DeChambeau is in his ultimate 12 months and will turn into a free agent.
DeChambeau has two LIV Golf victories this season, however his sport was a large number in the Masters and PGA Championship. He made a triple-bogey 7 on the 18th at Augusta National and missed the cut by two strokes. He posted 76-71 at Aronimink and missed the reduce by three-even after he made birdies on his final three holes.
It’s the first time DeChambeau missed the weekend in consecutive majors since 2017.
His iron play has been subpar (he misplaced .220 strokes on method) and his quick sport has been worse (he misplaced 3,927 strokes round the greens). He hit solely 19 of 28 fairways and 18 of 36 greens.
Uggetti: DeChambeau is the proper reply, however there are just a few different names that stand out too. Of the gamers who missed the reduce, Fleetwood and Viktor Hovland stand out. Fleetwood felt like he may have benefited from the irregular course setup this week given his ordinary method to enjoying prowess, whereas Hovland continues to be considered one of the most complicated gamers given the heights we have seen him attain. This week makes the fourth missed reduce at a serious that Hovland has had in the previous three years. He additionally has two top-3 finishes.
Of those that made the reduce, it is laborious to name McIlroy or Ludvig Åberg a disappointment as a result of they put themselves in the combine, however like Rahm, they have been the massive names going into Sunday one would have anticipated to make an actual run at the Wanamaker and did not. Maybe it would not have been sufficient with Rai getting scorching on the again 9, however this specific main felt prefer it was as up for grabs as any in current reminiscence and they have been unable to exit and get it.
Look ahead to the US Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club
Schlabach: Talking with just a few golfers and caddies on Monday at Aronimink Golf Club, they did not really feel like the course was going to be that a lot of a problem. Rory McIlroy advised that there wasn’t a lot technique wanted off the tee — simply rip it and spin a wedge onto the inexperienced. Xander Schauffele and others felt the identical.
But the PGA of America and the legendary Scottish golf course architect Donald Ross had the final phrase, as diabolical pin placements and the difficult inexperienced complexes created a check we hadn’t seen in a serious in fairly some time.
What will the United States Golf Association do at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in June? The final time Shinnecock hosted the US Open, Brooks Koepka’s profitable rating was 1 over.
McIlroy missed the reduce after posting a 10-over 80 in the first spherical. Phil Mickelson was so upset with the setup that he hit his moving ball on the 13th green and was docked a two-stroke penalty. Jason Day and others complained about the unfair setup.
Will Shinnecock be simpler when the US Open returns there June 18-21?
Uggetti: I feel the most fascinating story heading into the 12 months’s third main is Scottie Scheffler. Not solely is he going to be looking to finish the profession grand slam at simply 29 years outdated — he really turns 30 the day the ultimate spherical will probably be performed — however he is having considered one of the most original seasons we have seen in current historical past.
Scheffler hasn’t completed exterior the high 25 of any occasion he has performed in. He has gained solely as soon as however has completed inside the high 5 in six(!) tournaments. It could be silly to assume that he is enjoying something however a few of the greatest golf in the world. And but, it was laborious to observe Scheffler in Philadelphia this week, the place he completed at 2-under and T-14, and didn’t discover his frustration.
The world No. 1 was top-5 in strokes gained: tee to inexperienced however 72nd in the subject in placing. Anecdotally, it felt like each time he had a putt between 5-8 toes, a miss was as doubtless as a make. If Scheffler had putted the means he has most of this season (T-26 on tour), he most likely wins this event. His earlier struggles on the greens are again to being both a difficulty or not, the notion of Scheffler being nice however not adequate to win this season will probably be squarely in the forefront at Shinnecock the place he is already set to be a focus of the event.