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
Corbin Carroll helps Diamondbacks beat Rockies with 2-home run game
May 17, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks right fielder Corbin Carroll (7) hits a two run home run in the fourth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images Corbin Carroll hit two homers and drove in three runs Sunday to help the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks post an 8-6 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
After a 105-minute weather delay to start the series finale, Michael Soroka (6-2) threw 5 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on six hits, striking out eight and walking two. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. homered and Gabriel Moreno had three hits for Arizona, which won its first road series since taking two of three from the Baltimore Orioles from April 13-15.
Michael Lorenzen (2-6) suffered his fourth straight loss for Colorado, allowing seven runs (six earned) on nine hits across 4 2/3 innings, striking out five and walking three. Willi Castro drove in two runs for the Rockies, who dropped their sixth game in eight tries.
Carroll and Geraldo Perdomo worked back-to-back two-out walks in the third before Nolan Arenado’s RBI single put Arizona ahead 1-0. Gurriel followed with a single to double the Diamondbacks’ lead.
After Moreno’s leadoff single in the fourth, Ildemaro Vargas’ RBI base hit pushed the Arizona advantage to 3-0. Carroll then crushed his sixth home run of the season, a 431-foot shot to give the visitors a five-run lead.
The Rockies got two runs back in the bottom of the fourth. TJ Rumfield, Troy Johnston and Castro laced consecutive two-out doubles to trim the deficit to 5-2.
In the fifth, Gurriel connected on his first homer of the season to push the lead to four. Moreno then singled, stole second and advanced to third on catcher Brett Sullivan’s throwing error before Jose Fernandez’s single extended Arizona’s lead back to five.
Blas Castano relieved Lorenzen after 101 pitches.
Castano allowed Carroll’s second homer of the game in the sixth, this time a 448-foot solo shot.
Against Arizona’s Brandon Pfaadt in the bottom of the eighth, Hunter Goodman singled, Rumfield was hit by a pitch and Johnston walked to load the bases with no outs. Castro’s sac fly and Jake McCarthy cut the Rockies’ deficit to 8-4.
Taylor Clarke then replaced Pfaadt and allowed Kyle Karros’ RBI single and Brett Sullivan’s sac fly, pulling Colorado within two.
Paul Sewald threw a scoreless ninth to earn his 10th save in 11 attempts.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Inter Miami blank Portland to score 1st win in new stadium
May 17, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Inter Miami CF forward Lionel Messi (10) reacts to chants from the fans after the game against the Portland Timbers at Nu Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images Lionel Messi scored his 12th goal of the season and added his sixth assist as Inter Miami defeated the Portland Timbers 2-0 on Sunday evening to finally secure their first win in their new stadium.
German Berterame added his fifth goal for Miami, which had previously gone 0-3-1 at Nu Stadium, the permanent facility for the Herons that opened its doors in early April.
Dayne St. Claire made four saves to keep him and his club’s third clean sheet of the campaign and first since a 2-0 win at Real Salt Lake on April 22.
Portland lost 2-0 on the road for a fourth time this season, including three of their last five away fixtures. The Timbers were outshot 22-16 overall and 9-4 in efforts on target.
Messi sits tied with Dallas’ Petar Musa and one behind Chicago’s Hugo Cuypers for the MLS scoring lead. The 38-year-old Argentine has now contributed five goals and all six of his assists in his last four games as he prepares to play one last World Cup this summer.
He got started early Sunday, forcing James Pantemis into a save from close range in the fourth minute, and he had his goal 27 minutes later.
Messi began the attack from beyond the penalty arc, playing a pass to Luis Suarez on his left and then making a run into the center of the box.
Suarez fed Telasco Segovia, who played a clever backheel into Messi’s path for a simple finish into the right half of the goal as Pantemis guessed with his lunge in the opposite direction.
Messi’s assist 11 minutes later was of the vintage variety that recalled his best days as an FC Barcelona star and eight-time Ballon d’Or winner.
Rodrigo de Paul’s early cross from the right found Messi, who used his chest to control it, laid it off to Suarez on his left and then quickly reached a return pass.
From there, he weaved into the penalty area on the dribble, slaloming between four defenders before laying it off to Berterame on his left for a first-time finish from about 10 yards out.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Caitlin Clark helps Fever slide past Storm
May 17, 2026; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Seattle Storm guard Flau’jae Johnson (4) shoots against Indiana Fever forward Monique Billings (25) in the first half at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images Caitlin Clark scored 21 points and came three rebounds shy of a triple-double as the Indiana Fever won a home game for the first time in three outings this season by beating the Seattle Storm 89-78 on Sunday night at Indianapolis.
Clark compiled 10 assists by early in the fourth quarter in a game that the Fever controlled from the early minutes.
Kelsey Mitchell and reserve Sophie Cunningham both finished with 17 points for the Fever (2-2), who overcame 20 turnovers.
Clark made all nine of her free-throw attempts as part of the Fever’s 22-for-22 shooting at the foul line. Clark also led Indiana with two blocked shots.
Indiana’s Aliyah Boston (lower leg) missed the first game of her four-year career.
Natisha Hiedeman poured in 19 points, Flau’jae Johnson posted 14 points, Zia Cooke had 13 points off the bench and Jade Melbourne added 12 points for the Storm (1-3), who shot 6-for-23 on 3-point attempts.
Seattle, which trailed by as many as 20 points in the second half, made a mini-surge in the final minutes, closing to within 89-77 on Hiedeman’s 3-pointer with about 2½ minutes to play. There wasn’t another made field goal in the game.
Indiana took a double-digit lead about five minutes into the game, scored 32 first-quarter points and went on to lead 55-44 at halftime. Clark had 17 points, boosted by a pair of 3s, by the break.
The Storm were held to six points across the first five minutes of the third quarter. They also had trouble cranking out points in the fourth quarter and they trailed 83-65 with less than six minutes to play.
The Fever put a big emphasis on defense after shortcomings at that end of the court in their first three games. They held the Storm to less than 20 points in the first and third quarters.
Seattle had allowed 77 points through three quarters and that was more than the Storm scored in their most-recent game in an 86-73 loss Wednesday at Toronto.
–Field Level Media
Googlebooks: Excited. Terrified. Heres why
Corbin Carroll helps Diamondbacks beat Rockies with 2-home run game
