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

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

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