![\"Rory](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GC2JF77PJMZWEINFEROCKYRIGU.jpg\")
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland looks on during the final round of the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club. Photograph: Carl Recine\/Getty <\/p>\nWhen it came time to emerge from the shadows, to escape the logjam, Aaron Rai \u2013 a 31-year-old Englishman of Indian\/Kenyan heritage \u2013 proved the most capable of all in capturing the 108th US PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club, brilliantly constructing a final round 65 for a winning total of nine-under-par 271.<\/p>\n
In the heat of Pennsylvania, with temperatures hitting 30 degrees, Rai remained cool, calm and collected to take control of his own destiny, posting an eagle on the ninth to kick-start his march to glory and sealing the deal with a massive 63-footer for birdie on the 17th, his fourth birdie of the back nine.<\/p>\n
That audacious birdie on 17 was out of sync with how Rai had carefully plotted his way around the course, recovering from an unsettled start \u2013 which saw him bogey three times and birdie twice in the first eight holes \u2013 before that eagle enabled him to turn in 34 and then he moved up a gear to come home in 31 strokes, taking control and moving away so that he ultimately had three shots to spare over runners-up Jon Rahm and Alex Smalley.<\/p>\n
Justin Thomas had made an early charge in posting a 65 for 275 before most of the leading contenders set forth in their bids to lift the Wanamaker Trophy, yet those later starters would find it difficult to make such inroads … with the exception of Rai, who \u2013 after a difficult start \u2013 ignited his round with an eagle on the par 5 ninth and mercilessly worked his way through the back nine, with four birdies, to separate himself from allcomers.<\/p>\n
Thomas \u2013 who would finish tied-fourth alongside Ludvig Aberg and Matti Schmid \u2013 may have shown the way, but only Rai was able to follow.<\/p>\n
Smalley, the 54-hole leader, played conservative par golf until undone by a double-bogey six on the sixth hole. He would eventually recover, claiming an eagle on the 16th, but too late to disrupt Rai\u2019s party, although a birdie on the 18th for a 70 for 274 saw him join Rahm in a share of second.<\/p>\n
Rory McIlroy finished with a 69 for four-under 276, in tied-seventh. While McIlroy\u2019s driver was long if not particularly straight, playing many of his approach shots in the final round from the rough, the regret was not only with the big stick but also with a putter that refused to take advantage of a number of birdie chances. <\/p>\n
After his birdie on the second, the Northern Irishman didn\u2019t manage another until 14th which followed a bogey on the drivable par 4 13th which truly summed up his plight. A failure to birdie the par 5 16th summed it up. He had played the par 5s in even par for the week.<\/p>\n
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland looks on during the final round of the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club. Photograph: Carl Recine\/Getty <\/p>\n
Reflecting on his round, he said: \u201cI think not birdieing the two par-5s and making the bogey at the drivable par-4 13th [were at fault]. To me I felt like I played the golf I needed to play the rest of the way. If I birdied the two par-5s and turned that 5 into a 3 on 13, the day looks very different.\u201d<\/p>\n