EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsNEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. -- The 108th PGA Championship was full of surprises from the difficulty of the setup to world No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler's putting to Aaron Rai's stunning win.Rai, who was mostly known for wearing two black gloves while playing, pulled away for a 3-stroke victory to win his first major and became the first English-born golfer to triumph in the PGA Championship in more than a century.He'll get a five-year exemption on the PGA Tour and invitations to the Masters, U.S. Open and Open Championship for the next five years and a lifetime one to the PGA Championship."Golf is an amazing game," said Rai, who had 290-1 odds to win the Wanamaker Trophy according to DraftKings. "It teaches you so many things, and it teaches you so much humility and discipline and absolute hard work because nothing is ever given in this game."Here's a look back at what transpired at Aronimink Golf Club and what to look forward to in the U.S. Open, the next major, which will be held at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York, in June.What do you think we can expect from Aaron Rai for the rest of the season?Mark Schlabach: I had a friend suggest that Rai lifting the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday was the equivalent of Y.E. Yang's victory in 2009, when the South Korean outlasted Tiger Woods in the final round to win by three strokes at Hazeltine Golf Club in Minnesota.Yang took down the greatest golfer of his generation, and Rai pulled away from the deepest field in golf.I think Rai is a better golfer than Yang. He won four times on the DP World Tour and now he has won nine times around the world. He's one of the better iron players on tour, ranking 24th in strokes gained: approach (.435). Yes, he doesn't hit the ball that far off the tee (291.1 yards), but he's fourth in driving accuracy (291.1 yards).Rai's victory at Aronimink was a stunner, but he had fared well in majors the past couple of seasons. He made the cut in each of the past nine and tied for 19th in both the PGA Championship and U.S. Open in 2024.I'm not sure that Rai will win another major, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him win a few more times on tour.Paolo Uggetti: There's nothing like the confidence that winning a major championship brings, but given how improbable Rai's victory is, it's fair to wonder how that confidence will exactly translate into future results -- be it on the PGA Tour or at the next crop of majors.Rai had recorded just one top-10 finish on tour this season and it was at last week's opposite field event at Myrtle Beach. His lone win came back at the Wyndham Championship in 2024, though he did beat out Tommy Fleetwood in a DP World Tour event playoff at Abu Dhabi just six months ago.It will be easy to lump Rai with the off-the-board major winners over the past few years: J.J. Spaun, Brian Harman, Wyndham Clark. But given everything we have heard about Rai and his relentless work ethic, it also wouldn't be too surprising to see him find his way into contention again.One thing that will be intriguing to watch is Rai's potential Ryder Cup chances heading into next year at Adare Manor. As captain Luke Donald expressed this past week, the European team has yet to fully lay out what their points system will look like. Rai will surely get a boost from winning a major, but maintaining strong play over the course of this year and next will go a long way toward him making the team."I try not to consciously focus on it too much. These things are always around, whether it's Ryder Cup, whether it's the next event, whether it's the next major," Rai said. "So those are things that you can never completely ignore, but I try not to focus on them as real motivations to push me forward. I hope to continue to move in a pretty similar way in terms of practice, training, application towards the game, and we'll see where that takes me."Biggest winners from PGA Championship?Schlabach: Alex Smalley showed some nerves in the final round while trying to win his first PGA Tour event, no less a major championship.After holding at least a share of the lead in each of the first three rounds, Smalley made a double-bogey on No. 6 and a bogey on No. 8 to fall off the pace. But the 29-year-old recovered on the back nine, and his eagle on the 16th and birdie on the 18th helped him finish in a tie for second with Jon Rahm at 6 under.The top-four finish earned Smalley his first trip to the Masters next year, as well as a return to the 2027 PGA Championship in Frisco, Texas."Thrilled to be going to Augusta next year," Smalley said. "I knew that top four and ties, I believe it is, gets you into Augusta. So I knew that was a possibility. I wasn't really thinking about it honestly until I hit the green on 18 [and] saw where I was."Smalley's game had been trending heading into the PGA Championship. He'd had five straight top-25 finishes on tour, including a tie for seventh in the Cadillac Championship and for 17th in the Truist Championship.He's 16th in strokes gained: total (1.037) this season, as well as 25th in approach (.416) and 32nd in putting (.327). The game is there for him to make some noise this summer.Uggetti: I think you can make a case that Rahm was both a winner and a disappointment this week, so I will use this space to talk about him.After another noncompetitive performance at the Masters this year, plus the impending uncertainty with LIV's future, there was a lot of attention surrounding Rahm -- what he would say and how we would play. While he didn't divulge much on his future or how he has changed his approach given his recent performance at the majors, Rahm went out and had his best finish at a major (T-2) since winning at Augusta in 2023."As far as I'm concerned, to be in the mix again and hit it as good as I did and perform as well as I did this weekend, it's been a great week," Rahm said. "When the pressure is the highest in majors, some of those things you're working on, those weak links can damage the foundation, right? Just happy that all those things I felt like I could have done better at Augusta ended up working out this week."At the same time, one could make the case that Rahm squandered a golden opportunity. With no other big names really making a run at the lead Sunday at Aronimink, the Spaniard was right there and was far and away the best player to have a chance of running down Rai. He played a really good round of golf Sunday and just didn't have the kind of scoring he would have needed to keep up."The margin, even though it's three shots, it can be so small honestly." Rahm said. "I feel like I'm playing really good golf and definitely played good enough this week to give myself a chance to win. So keep doing what I've been doing well."Biggest disappointment from PGA Championship?Schlabach: For the second straight major, LIV Golf League captain Bryson DeChambeau wasn't around for the weekend, and you have to wonder if LIV Golf's uncertain future has something to do with it.Yes, Rahm and Australia's Cameron Smith (tie for seventh) didn't seem fazed by the fact that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund won't finance LIV Golf beyond this season. Rahm and Smith have multiyear contacts with LIV Golf, while DeChambeau is in his final year and will become a free agent.DeChambeau has two LIV Golf victories this season, but his game was a mess in the Masters and PGA Championship. He made a triple-bogey 7 on the 18th at Augusta National and missed the cut by two strokes. He posted 76-71 at Aronimink and missed the cut by three-even after he made birdies on his last three holes.It's the first time DeChambeau missed the weekend in consecutive majors since 2017.His iron play has been subpar (he lost .220 strokes on approach) and his short game has been worse (he lost 3.927 strokes around the greens). He hit only 19 of 28 fairways and 18 of 36 greens.Uggetti: DeChambeau is the right answer, but there are a few other names that stand out too. Of the players who missed the cut, Fleetwood and Viktor Hovland stand out. Fleetwood felt like he could have benefited from the abnormal course setup this week given his usual approach play prowess, while Hovland continues to be one of the more confusing players given the heights we've seen him reach. This week makes the fourth missed cut at a major that Hovland has had in the past three years. He also has two top-3 finishes.Of those who made the cut, it's hard to call McIlroy or Ludvig berg a disappointment because they put themselves in the mix, but like Rahm, they were the big names going into Sunday one would have expected to make a real run at the Wanamaker and didn't. Maybe it wouldn't have been enough with Rai getting hot on the back nine, but this particular major felt like it was as up for grabs as any in recent memory and they were unable to go out and get it.Look ahead to the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf ClubSchlabach: Talking with a few golfers and caddies on Monday at Aronimink Golf Club, they didn't feel like the course was going to be that much of a challenge. Rory McIlroy suggested that there wasn't much strategy needed off the tee -- just rip it and spin a wedge onto the green. Xander Schauffele and others felt the same.But the PGA of America and the legendary Scottish golf course architect Donald Ross had the last word, as diabolical pin placements and the tricky green complexes created a test we hadn't seen in a major in quite a while.What will the United States Golf Association do at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in June? The last time Shinnecock hosted the U.S. Open, Brooks Koepka's winning score was 1 over.McIlroy missed the cut after posting a 10-over 80 in the first round. Phil Mickelson was so upset with the setup that he hit his moving ball on the 13th green and was docked a two-stroke penalty. Jason Day and others complained about the unfair setup.Will Shinnecock be easier when the U.S. Open returns there June 18-21?Uggetti: I think the most fascinating story heading into the year's third major is Scottie Scheffler. Not only is he going to be looking to complete the career grand slam at just 29 years old -- he actually turns 30 the day the final round will be played -- but he's having one of the most unique seasons we've seen in recent history.Scheffler hasn't finished outside of the top 25 of any event he has played in. He has won only once but has finished inside the top five in six(!) tournaments. It would be foolish to think that he's playing anything but some of the best golf in the world. And yet, it was hard to watch Scheffler in Philadelphia this week, where he finished at 2-under and T-14, and not notice his frustration.The world No. 1 was top-5 in strokes gained: tee to green but 72nd in the field in putting. Anecdotally, it felt like every time he had a putt between 5-8 feet, a miss was as likely as a make. If Scheffler had putted the way he has most of this season (T-26 on tour), he probably wins this tournament. Whether his previous struggles on the greens are back to being an issue or not, the notion of Scheffler being great but not good enough to win this season will be squarely in the forefront at Shinnecock where he's already set to be a focal point of the tournament.
