Aronimink defeated some of golf’s biggest stars on Sunday. Aaron Rai made the shots they couldn’t.
It felt like a big name would ultimately lift the Wanamaker Trophy. But it was the lesser known (and well-liked) Rai who came closest to taming the challenging Delco course.
When Jon Rahm stood over a 14-foot putt at the long and treacherous 15th hole at Aronimink Country Club on Sunday, a birdie would have pulled him to within one shot of leader Aaron Rai.
But the Spaniard misjudged his line. Rahm’s putt rolled past the hole, but many of his other misses during the PGA Championship fell short on the tricky greens at the Newtown Square course.
“Just wish I’d have done better with the speed of the greens,” Rahm said after finishing second behind Rai. “Just couldn’t seem to get it to the hole, and that’s the reason why I didn’t hole any more putts.
“Even so, what Aaron did today, catching him could have been very difficult.”
» READ MORE: PGA Championship: Aaron Rai solves Aronimink Golf Club to win his first major
What Rai did was shoot a 5-under 65 to finish 9-under and three strokes ahead of Rahm and the rest of a field stacked with former major winners on Sunday. Who knows how Rai, playing one group ahead, would have responded had Rahm sent the gallery into a roar with a birdie on 15?
Considering how Rai performed down the stretch, it’s unlikely that the first-time major winner would have folded. With big guns Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler hovering, but never making a serious challenge, the popular Rai prevailed.
“You won’t find one person on property who’s not happy for him,” McIlroy said.
Rai two-putted for birdie on the par-5 16th, sunk a remarkable 68-footer on the 17th that all but sealed the outcome, and finished 18 with a stress-free par to win the title. After opening 1-over through eight holes, he went 6-under on his next nine holes.
The British-born 31-year old won the tournament more than the best players in the world lost it. But even for a major that had unprecedented parity, with a record 21 golfers within four strokes heading into the final round, it felt as if one of the big names would eventually prevail.
In the end, nine players with a combined 20 majors finished in a tie for 14th or better. Rahm erased leader Alex Smalley’s two-stroke lead with birdies on the first two holes. But he bogeyed Nos. 3 and 7. A birdie at the par-5 9th moved him back to 5-under overall.
But he failed to make up a stroke up at the short par-4 13th after he drove just a few paces off the back of the green. Rahm’s chip ended up 17 feet short and he missed the birdie putt.
“This setup and this pin location, it’s not like you can be overly aggressive,” Rahm said. “You want to hit it close, but the second you go a foot past the pin, most of the time you can end up off the green fast.”
That’s just what Schauffele did when he his bunker shot rolled off the back at 13. He putted from off the green, but the ball didn’t reach the surface and rolled back to his feet.
“I figured I needed to make birdie and tried to be aggressive and ended up making bogey,” Schauffele said. “That’s just what this course can do to you.”
Scheffler struggled all week on the large, undulating greens. He seemed to be making one of his patented runs early in the final round after a birdie at No. 2 and hitting his approach at No. 3 to within five feet. But he low sided the putt.
The World No. 1 got to 3-under a few times, but never got closer and finished 2-under.
Justin Thomas had the clubhouse lead at 5-under following a final round 65. It stood for more than three hours. Thomas won the 2022 PGA after trailing by seven shots on the last day. With Aronimink getting more firm, it looked like Thomas might sneak into a playoff at one point.
“Any place is tough with that much wind, but this place with how the course is set up and everything, it’s extremely tough,” Thomas said. “So not having much wind today actually made it feel like I could make some birdies.”
Australian Cameron Smith, a former Open champion, got to 5-under at the turn. But he drifted and finished at 4-under. Justin Rose, whose lone major came 13 years ago in the U.S. Open at nearby Merion Golf Club, never got closer than his final score of 3-under.
McIlroy navigated a testy 10-footer for par on No. 1 and made a short birdie at No. 2 to pull within two of the lead. But he kept missing fairways and couldn’t be aggressive in his second shots.
The Masters champion pulverized his drive on No. 9, hitting it 379 yards down the middle. But his 209-yard second shot was short and he failed to get up and down for at least a birdie at a hole that yielded eagles on Sunday.
“I think not birdieing the two par-5s and making the bogey at the drivable par-4 13th,” McIlroy said when asked about regrets. “To me, I felt like I played the golf I needed to play the rest of the way. If I birdied the two par-5s and turned that 5 into a 3 on 13, the day looks very different.”
McIlroy’s first shot at No. 13 went way right into the rough along the adjacent 15th. He needed two chips to make the green and two-putted. He drained a 23-footer on the par-3 14th, but he missed the fairway again on the par-5 16th — his last good chance at birdie — and settled for another par.
All told, McIlroy hit just 4 of 14 fairways and finished tied for 76th out of 80 golfers in driving accuracy. The lack of trees were considered by some to be detrimental to strategy off the tee, but even wide fairways couldn’t hold straight drives on tilting landscapes like Nos. 7, 10 and 15.
“Most of Monday and Tuesday, I spent thinking what was wrong with me because everybody was saying we were going to shoot 15-to 20-under here, and I didn’t see any chance in the world of that happening,” Rahm said.
And he was right. Ultimately, the Donald Ross-designed Aronimink held up, even if McIlroy and several others criticized the PGA’s setup in the first two days. Philadelphia-area crowds performed just as well, even if McIlroy appeared to take issue with something said by a fan after his third shot at 16.
Nevertheless, Philly is hoping for a regular stop on the PGA Tour, perhaps at the renovated Cobbs Creek once it is finished. But for now locals will have to wait till the U.S. Open returns to Merion in four years.
“I’ve never played it, believe it or not,” Thomas said of Merion. “I would love to. … I’m sure it will be fun.”
