Key events
Show key events only
Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature
Congratulations to Aaron Rai, the much-deserved 2026 PGA Championship winner. What a back nine. What a putt. What moxie. What an incredibly inspirational and likeable victor. England has waited a long time for its second PGA champion, just the 107 years, and when it happened, it proved worth hanging around for. Andy Bull’s report is below; thanks for reading this one.
-9: Aaron Rai
-6: Jon Rahm, Alex Smalley
-5: Justin Thomas, Ludvig Åberg, Matti Schmid
-4: Cameron Smith, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele
-3: Kurt Kitayama, Chris Gotterup, Justin Rose, Patrick Reed
-2: Matt Fitzpatrick, Scottie Scheffler, Max Greyserman, Ben Griffin
-1: Jordan Spieth, Stephan Jaeger, Padraig Harrington, David Puig, Harris English, Min Woo Lee, Joaquin Niemann, Maverick McNealy
Aaron Rai’s victory snaps the USA’s ten-year run of wins at the PGA Championship. It’s Europe’s first victory since Rory McIlroy won his second title in 2014, and only the third time an English player has won the tournament. Though of course what really stands out is that Rai has broken England’s 107-year wait to find someone to follow in the footsteps of the legendary Jim Barnes, who won the very first PGA Championship in 1916 and retained his title when the competition was next held in 1919. For the record, Barnes went on to win the US Open in 1921 and the Open in 1925. No pressure, Aaron! Though to be fair, ticking off a box that’s remained unticked for over a century is more than enough achievement for any career.
Then on that birdie putt on 17: “I definitely wasn’t trying to hole that putt! The shadow of the pin gave a really nice line for the last ten feet … that definitely helped with the visual … I was trying to put a good speed on it … it just tracked well on the last half … amazing to see that one go in!”
… and then the Wanamaker Trophy is presented to the winner of the 108th PGA Championship: Aaron Rai! The trophy is a big boy, but Rai still manages to hoick it up and peer around it, his smile shining even brighter than the silver. “It’s very surreal,” he tells CBS. “It’s been a frustrating season so to be stood here is outside of my wildest imagination! Golf is an amazing game … it teaches you so many things … so much humility … discipline … hard work … nothing is ever given … golf teaches you so many amazing life skills … pretty much every guy on tour, they’re all incredible people … the sport should be very proud of the ambassadors that represent the PGA Tour and the PGA of America.”
Schmid and Smalley will of course be disappointed. But that doesn’t stop them both embracing Rai warmly,