Aaron Rai won the 108th PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club with a nine-under-par finish, three shots ahead of Jon Rahm and overnight leader Alex Smalley. The 31-year-old Englishman closed with a five-under 65 and became the first Englishman to win the Wanamaker Trophy since Jim Barnes in 1919. Rai’s decisive moment came on the 17th green when he made a 68-foot birdie putt while holding a two-shot lead. Earlier in the round, he bogeyed three of his first eight holes, then birdied the 11th and 13th to move clear. A tap-in birdie on 16th extended his advantage before the long putt sealed the win.
"Extremely rewarding, extremely challenging," Rai told Golf Channel at the trophy ceremony. "It is certainly a rollercoaster to get to these points. It's an absolute dream come true.""
"It's such an amazing journey to get to this point," Rai added. "There's so much that goes into it. It's still hard for me to get my head around it because I also think what's required to perform in a tournament like this is very different. Having a larger view of things, a larger perspective on the journey to this point, you have to stay extremely present, extremely focused on what's in front of you.""
"Holding a two-shot lead and needing simply to par in, Rai stood over a 68-foot birdie putt and drained it - the second-longest putt made by any player all week. "Definitely wasn't trying to hole that putt," he said with a grin. "The shadow of the pin gave a really nice line for the last 10 feet. It just tracked really well - it was amazing to see it go in.""
"Rai had bogeyed three of his first eight holes and seemed to be drifting out of contention before birdies on the 11th and 13th moved him clear, a tap-in birdie on the par-five 16th extended his lead, and then the impossible putt on the 17th put the outcome beyond any serious doubt."
Read at 101GREATGOALS.COM
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]