Aaron Rai wins PGA Championship for his first major title
Sunday's win at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, is only his second PGA tour victory, after winning the 2024 Wyndham Championship.
Updated on: May 17, 2026 / 7:16 PM EDT / CBS/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, the first player of Indian heritage to win a major, closed with a 5-under 65.