Underdog Emerges From PGA Chaos to Capture First Major

Aaron Rai walked into the PGA Championship as the world's 44th-ranked player and walked out with the Wanamaker Trophy—and one of the unlikeliest major wins in recent memory, the Wall Street Journal reports. On a brutal Aronimink setup outside Philadelphia where nobody could pull away for three days, the 31-year-old Englishman emerged from a record-logjammed leaderboard to claim his first major at 9-under. His bogey-free back nine Sunday pushed him three shots clear of Jon Rahm and Alex Smalley, capping a week in which 22 players were within four strokes of the lead after 54 holes, the most in the event's history.

Rai, known for wearing gloves on both hands, did his real damage without them—on the greens. He closed with a five-under 65, ESPN reports, including a 40-foot eagle putt on the ninth and a 68-foot birdie on the par-3 17th that effectively ended the suspense. "Definitely wasn't trying to hole that putt," he said of the 17th. His win came in a tournament so open that, per Data Golf, no one started the final round with better than a 20% chance to win. Rai's odds: 3.6%—until he became the first Englishman to win the PGA Championship since 1919. In addition to his $3.7 million payday, per Yahoo Sports, he scores invitations to the Masters, US Open, and Open Championship for the next five years.