Sports
Aaron Rai emerges to win first major, first PGA for England since 1919
May 17, 2026; Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, USA; Aaron Rai reacts on the first green during the final round of the PGA Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Aaron Rai undersold the reaction to the mammoth putt that sealed his first major championship.
His tee shot at the par-3 17th landed clear on the other side of the green, 68 1/2 feet from the pin. His putt traveled up one ridge and down a second, aligning perfectly with the shadow of the flagstick as it tracked straight into the cup.
Rai’s facial expression barely changed. He shared one solitary hand-slap with his caddie, something less than a full high five. No one was going to catch him, but Rai waited till completing the 18th hole to finally exhale and celebrate winning the PGA Championship on Sunday at Aronimink Golf Club.
On a weekend where fans studied the leaderboard and wondered, “Who’s that?,” Rai showed exactly who he is.
Rai, 31, drained a series of increasingly long putts to write himself into the history books as the first Englishman to win the PGA Championship since Jim Barnes in 1919. Americans had claimed this major each of the last 10 years.
He made a 40-foot eagle putt at the par-5 ninth hole to cap an uneven first nine, then pulled away with four birdies on the back and converted his remarkable birdie at No. 17 to remove any doubt.
“The shadow of the pin gave a really nice line for probably the last 10 feet. So that definitely helped with the visual of the putt,” Rai said during the trophy presentation. “But it was so long that it was just trying to put good speed on it and make a good putt, and it just tracked extremely well on the last half. Yeah, amazing to see that one go in.”
Rai began the day in a five-way tie for second behind Alex Smalley. His 5-under-par 65 brought him to 9-under 271 for the week, three strokes ahead of Smalley (70) and Jon Rahm of Spain (68).
The first English major winner since Matt Fitzpatrick took the 2022 U.S. Open title, Rai was one of several less familiar names on the 54-hole leaderboard. But he was ranked No. 44 in the world entering the week, with one win on the PGA Tour and three more on the DP World Tour for his career.
He previously had not finished better than T19 at a major.
“It’s a really long journey to even get to compete at major championships at events like the PGA,” Rai said. “Yeah, to be stood here, it still hasn’t sunk in for sure.”
Justin Thomas (65), Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg (69) and Germany’s Matti Schmid (69) tied for fourth at 5-under 275.
Thomas was the leader in the clubhouse at about 3:05 p.m. local time, and that held up for most of the afternoon as players battled Aronimink’s more demanding back nine. Thomas had improved on his Saturday 72 by seven shots.
“I vented and kind of got everything off my chest to my wife Jill last night,” Thomas said. “Credit to her, she gave great advice. She was like, ‘Well, use that tomorrow.’ She’s seen me play pissed off. I’ve done it in Ryder Cups a lot, and it’s like sometimes it brings a little different energy and different side out of it.
“So I’ve got to give her a lot of credit for that because I tried to use that out of my finish and round today to play today and shoot as low as I could.”
Smalley, Rahm, Rai and Schmid each held at least a share of the lead at 6 under at some point. Smalley — seeking his first professional win of any kind — harmed his chances with a messy double bogey at the par-4 sixth and a bogey at No. 8.
“I knew it was going to be a difficult round mentally and just because the golf course was drying out, it was warm, ball was bouncing a lot, rolling a lot,” said Smalley, who rallied in part because of an eagle at No. 16. “Hung in there. Kind of gave myself some stress on the first few holes again. Made a couple of back-to-back mistakes on No. 6 and paid for it.”
Schmid, playing in the final pairing with Smalley and also winless on the PGA Tour, took the lead from him at No. 6 when he got a 19 1/2-foot birdie to fall. But his bogey on No. 10 opened the door for Rai.
Rai’s putter was far from the only club working for him. He gave himself 4-foot birdies with tight approaches at Nos. 1 and 11, though he overshot the greens at Nos. 3 and 6 to lead to two of his three front-nine bogeys.
Everything turned when Rai lined up his eagle putt at No. 9. He left in the pin for the downhill, left-to-right putt and watched it turn straight toward the hole.
“I was just trying to focus on speed. Hit a great putt, great speed, and we were lucky it went in,” Rai said. “Definitely helped and provided a bit of a boost to the round.”
The birdie at No. 11 drew Rai even with Schmid, and he became the first player to touch 7 under all week at the short par-4 13th. Rai’s tee shot went in the front-right bunker, but he got his 39-yard sand shot to stop inside 7 feet to set up birdie.
Rai was one of the only players who managed to tame the back nine. Northern Ireland star Rory McIlroy could not muster a late rally, posting 69 and landing at 4 under. He tied for seventh with Australian Cameron Smith (68) and Xander Schauffele (69).
Kurt Kitayama played Sunday morning and fired a bogey-free, 7-under 63 to tie the record for lowest final round at a major championship. He tied for 10th at 3 under with Chris Gotterup (69), Patrick Reed (70) and England’s Justin Rose (69).
Reigning champion and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler had a ho-hum 69 and finished seven behind Rai at 2 under.
Rahm had the greatest chance to pressure the less experienced contenders when he hit fine approaches into Nos. 1 and 2 and collected birdies to reach 6 under. He could not keep that going and gave them back with bogeys at Nos. 3 and 7.
“I played really good golf. That’s the only way to look at it,” Rahm said after his best major finish since 2023. “Just wish I’d have done better with the speed of the greens. Just couldn’t seem to get it to the hole, and that’s the reason why I didn’t hole any more putts.
“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.”
Then Rahm praised Rai, not only for his sharp play but also for the consensus around golf that “there’s very few people that are nicer and kinder human beings than” the Wolverhampton-area native.
A son of Indian immigrants, Rai is widely known as a mild-mannered, humble and respectful player. He is still in the habit of using iron covers, a rarity in the sport, because he came from a working-class family and it would be prohibitively expensive — and unfair to his parents — to replace damaged equipment.
“Golf is an amazing game,” Rai said at the trophy presentation. “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 no matter what level you’re playing, no matter what course you’re playing on. So I think it just teaches so many amazing life skills.”
–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media
Sports
Aaron Rai emerges to win first major; 1st Englishman to win PGA since 1919
May 17, 2026; Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, USA; Aaron Rai reacts on the first green during the final round of the PGA Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Aaron Rai drained a series of increasingly long putts to write himself into the history books and win his first major title Sunday at the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club.
Rai made a 40-foot eagle putt at the par-5 ninth hole to cap an uneven first nine, then pulled away with four birdies on the back and converted a remarkable 68 1/2-foot birdie at the par-3 17th to remove any doubt.
Rai, 31, is the first Englishman to win the PGA Championship since Jim Barnes in 1919. Americans had claimed this major each of the last 10 years.
Rai’s 5-under-par 65 put him 9-under 271 and three strokes ahead of Jon Rahm of Spain (68) and Alex Smalley. He had started the day in a five-way tie for second behind Smalley.
The first English major winner since Matt Fitzpatrick took the 2022 U.S. Open title, Rai was one of several less familiar names on the 54-hole leaderboard. But he was ranked No. 44 in the world entering the week, with one win on the PGA Tour and three more on the DP World Tour for his career.
He previously had not finished better than T19 at a major.
Rai’s putter was far from the only club working for him. He gave himself 4-foot birdies with tight approaches at Nos. 1 and 11, though he overshot the greens at Nos. 3 and 6 to lead to two of his three front-nine bogeys.
Everything turned when Rai lined up his eagle putt at No. 9. He left in the pin for the downhill, left-to-right putt and it tracked perfectly into the hole.
The birdie at No. 11 drew Rai even with Germany’s Matti Schmid, and he became the first player to touch 7 under all week at the short par-4 13th. Rai’s tee shot went in the front-right bunker, but he got his 39-yard sand shot to stop inside 7 feet to set up birdie.
Justin Thomas went into the clubhouse at 5-under 275 at about 3:05 p.m. local time, and that held up for most of the afternoon as players battled Aronimink’s more demanding back nine.
Smalley, Rahm, Rai and Schmid each held at least a share of the lead at 6 under at some point. Smalley — seeking his first professional win of any kind — irreparably harmed his chances with a messy double bogey at the par-4 sixth and a bogey at No. 8.
Schmid, playing in the final pairing with Smalley and also winless on the PGA Tour, took the lead from him at No. 6 when he got a 19 1/2-foot birdie to fall. But his bogey on No. 10 opened the door for Rai.
Rai was one of the only players who managed to tame the back nine. Northern Ireland star Rory McIlroy could not muster a late rally, posting 69 and landing at 4 under.
Reigning champion and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler had a ho-hum 69 and finished seven behind Rai at 2 under.
–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media
Sports
Giants use 8-run 8th to blow open rubber match vs. Athletics
May 17, 2026; West Sacramento, California, USA; San Francisco Giants second baseman Luis Arraez (center) is greeted by his teammates after hitting a solo home run against the Athletics during the third inning at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images Harrison Bader hit a grand slam and Luis Arraez homered for the second time in three games to help the San Francisco Giants notch a 10-1 victory over the Athletics on Sunday afternoon at West Sacramento, Calif.
Bader’s second career slam came during an eight-run eighth-inning as the Giants blew open a close game.
Arraez had three hits and went 8-for-12 with five runs in the series, which San Francisco rallied to win after dropping the opener.
Casey Schmitt and Matt Chapman each had two hits in the finale. Schmitt went 6-for-10 in the final two games of the series and homered twice in Saturday’s victory.
San Francisco’s Adrian Houser (2-4) pitched six solid innings and three relievers finished up. Houser allowed one run and four hits. He walked five and struck out three.
Carlos Cortes had two hits and an RBI for the Athletics, who committed three errors and have lost five of their past seven games.
Arraez hit his first homer of the season on Friday before getting help from the wind in the third inning on Sunday. Cortes was stationed in traditional right field and backed up but couldn’t find the ball as the wind took it near the foul pole and over the wall for a solo shot.
Cortes was on the other side of the wind in the fifth inning as his apparent inning-ending pop-up landed for a run-scoring double. Giants shortstop Willy Adames lost the ball in the sun and Darell Hernaiz scored from second to cut the deficit to 2-1.
The Athletics’ Jeffrey Springs (3-4) gave up two runs (one earned) and five hits over six innings. He struck out three and walked one.
Nick Kurtz went 0-for-1 but walked three times to stretch his streak of reaching base to 40 straight games, the longest single-season streak by an A’s player since Mark McGwire (48 in 1996).
Chapman’s RBI double in the fourth gave the Giants a 2-0 lead. After the A’s got their gift run an inning later, San Francisco broke the game open in the eighth.
Bader started the frame by reaching on an error by Athletics third baseman Zack Gelof. Arraez walked and Schmitt singled off Luis Medina to load the bases before Rafael Devers singled to center. One run scored and a second followed when Lawrence Butler fumbled the ball.
Daniel Susac’s grounder and Jung Hoo Lee’s infield single plated runs later in the inning before Bader came up with the bases loaded. He went the opposite way with a 2-1 fastball from Jose Suarez and landed it over the wall in right.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Dodgers blast Angels to complete three-game sweep
May 17, 2026; Anaheim, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages (44) runs after hitting an RBI single during the fourth inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: William Liang-Imagn Images Roki Sasaki allowed one run on four hits over seven innings and Kyle Tucker went 3-for-5 with a double and three RBIs as the Los Angeles Dodgers completed a three-game Freeway Series sweep of the Los Angeles Angels with a 10-1 victory on Sunday afternoon in Anaheim, Calif.
Sasaki (2-3) didn’t walk a batter for the first time in 16 career starts and struck out a career-high eight batters. He threw 91 pitches, 69 for strikes, while garnering his third career victory.
Shohei Ohtani went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and a run scored, Hyeseong Kim also had two hits, an RBI and two runs scored and Andy Pages drove in two runs for the Dodgers, who won their fifth straight game.
Nolan Schanuel had two hits and a run scored, Mike Trout had a double and Yoan Moncada had an RBI single for the Angels, who lost their sixth straight game and for the eighth time in nine games.
Grayson Rodriguez (0-1), obtained in a trade in the offseason from the Baltimore Orioles for outfielder Taylor Ward, made his first start since July 31, 2024, after undergoing Tommy John surgery and suffered the loss. Rodriguez, who hit 99 mph with his fastball, allowed seven runs on seven hits over 3 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out four.
The Dodgers, who outscored the Angels, 31-3, in the three-game sweep, took a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Tucker led off with a single and advanced to third after back-to-back walks to Max Muncy and Dalton Rushing. Miguel Rojas then drove in Tucker with a sacrifice fly, and Kim followed with an RBI single.
The Dodgers broke the game open in fourth inning with five runs on five hits, including two-run singles by Ohtani and Pages.
The Angels cut the lead to 7-1 in the bottom of the fourth on a two-out ground single to right by Moncada, driving in Schanuel, who had singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch.
The Dodgers added three more runs off reliever Ryan Johnson in the ninth, highlighted by a two-run double by Tucker.
–Field Level Media
Aaron Rai emerges to win first major; 1st Englishman to win PGA since 1919
Giants use 8-run 8th to blow open rubber match vs. Athletics
