PGA Championship Takeaways: What the Heck Happened at Aronimink?
Alright, so the PGA Championship wrapped up. Feels like forever ago already, right? The dust has settled, but some of the scenes from Aronimink are still stuck in my head. You know how it is. You think you’re done with a tournament, but then a few things keep bouncing around. This wasn’t just about who lifted the trophy; it was about the weird, the wonderful, and the downright unexpected. Let’s dive into some of the stuff that really stood out, the moments that made you scratch your head or nod in approval.
Harrington's Late-Round Magic: Age is Just a Number, Apparently
You gotta hand it to Padraig Harrington. The guy was dreaming of a Sunday charge, coming from way back. Didn’t quite get the fairy-tale win, but he snagged something pretty damn cool. After a pretty quiet start to his final round, he holed out for eagle on 16. Then, a par on 17, and he capped it off with a sweet wedge on 18 for birdie. Top-20 finish. Under par. Not bad for a guy who’s… well, not exactly a spring chicken anymore.
Let’s break down just how impressive that was:
- His T18 was his best major finish in five years. Seriously. Five years.
- He’s now one of only three players over 54 to crack the top 20 at a PGA. The other two? Sam Snead and Gene Sarazen. Those are golf legends, people. Snead, by the way, was doing his thing in his 60s. Makes you wonder what the hell we’re even talking about with modern golf.
- If you take out his opening round, Harrington was playing lights out for the last 54 holes. 69-67-69. Five under par. Only two guys ahead of him in that stretch. That’s serious golf.
He’s heading to the U.S. Open at Shinnecock. Keep dreaming, Padraig. You never know.
Cam Smith Finds His Groove Again: A New Coach, A Familiar Putter
It was good to see Cam Smith in contention at a major again. Purely for the drama, you know? Watching him hit those big-time putts. After a rough patch of missed cuts, he brings in a new swing coach, Claude Harmon III, and suddenly his irons are on fire. That’s a good combo with a putter that’s always been money. His driving? Still a bit of a wild ride, which honestly, just adds to the excitement. But he found something at Aronimink. It’ll be interesting to see where that form takes him next.
After the tournament, Smith was buzzing, but he admitted it was tough making the call to his old coach, Grant Field. He’d been with Field since he was nine years old. Twenty-three years. That’s a long damn time. It was probably one of the hardest phone calls he’s ever had to make. But he feels like it was the right move. You can see it in his game, the way he’s striking the ball, hitting different shots. It’s working.
Jon Rahm's Near Miss: So Close, Yet So Far Away
You know what they say: winning takes care of everything. But finishing T2, playing damn good golf, only to get beaten by a guy who goes on a birdie-eagle tear in the final 10 holes? That’s a tough pill to swallow. Jon Rahm was all smiles after his final round 68, which landed him in second place. It was his first major top-five finish since 2023. He played well, and he was honest about the pre-tournament talk of ridiculously low scores.
“Most of Monday and Tuesday I spent thinking what was wrong with me,” Rahm said. Everyone was talking about 15-to-20-under par. He just didn’t see it happening. Even the winning scores, nine and six under, were lower than he expected. He’s been playing well, had a T8 at LIV Virginia, won LIV Mexico, and played solid after the Masters. But he admitted that when the pressure’s highest in majors, those “weak links” you’ve been working on can come back to bite you. He’s just happy those things he felt he could improve on at Augusta ended up paying off this week.
Alex Smalley's Masters Invite: A Consolation Prize That's Anything But
Alex Smalley couldn’t hold onto his two-shot lead heading into the final round. But he walked away with a whole lot of good stuff, including a golden ticket to next year’s Masters. Even after the winner was decided, Smalley finished strong with an eagle-bogey-birdie stretch to secure a T2 finish. His playing partner, Matti Schmid, also finished T4. Neither of them had ever played the Masters before. But a top-four finish in a major? That’s an automatic invite to Augusta National. So yeah, that’s about to change.
It was clearly on Smalley’s mind on the final green. “I’m thrilled to be going to Augusta next year,” he said. He knew that a top-four finish would get him in. He wasn’t really thinking about it until he hit the green on 18, saw where he stood. He was just trying to two-putt, lag it up there. That 20-footer uphill on 18? He was just trying to get a tap-in. Fortunate enough that it went in. (And worth about a million bucks, by the way.)
“As far as this tournament, in terms of my career, who knows? Maybe it’s a springboard,” Smalley added. “It gives me a lot of confidence coming away from this week to know that I can compete on the PGA Tour and even some of the major championships.”
The Top 15: A Gateway to Future Majors
Here’s a little something for the grinders: the top 15 finishers and ties get an automatic invitation back to next year’s PGA Championship. That’s a massive opportunity. Think about it – the 2025 PGA had some wild-card contenders, which meant players like Davis Riley, Joe Highsmith, and Jhonny Vegas got another shot at the 2026 PGA when they might not have otherwise. This year’s top 15 was mostly filled with the usual suspects, the high-ranked guys we expect to see anywhere. But it’s a nice safety net for guys like Smalley (World No. 42), Schmid (No. 65), Kurt Kitayama (No. 29), and Max Greyserman (No. 63). They’ve got at least one major tee time locked up for 2027, even if other things go sideways.
World Rankings Shuffled: Unexpected Climbers
This is kind of a fun stat, more than anything else. But some of the biggest jumps in the world rankings after the PGA Championship are a reminder of some of the unexpected players who showed up. It’s not just the big names making moves.
- Club pro Ben Kern made the cut, finished 80th, and went from unranked to No. 1781.
- Harrington’s T18? That rocketed him from No. 894 to 502.
- Martin Kaymer finished T35 and jumped from No. 1160 to 720.
- Reigning Ryder Cup hero Luke Donald made the cut, finished T70, and climbed from No. 1300 to 1081.
- And Cam Smith’s T7? That took him from No. 239 to 145.
It just goes to show, you never know who’s going to make a move.
The Big Three and Xander: Relentless Consistency
Rory McIlroy finished T7. That’s his 15th top-eight finish in a major since 2020. Think about that for a second. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler? T14. How consistent have these two been? It’s been over five years – since the 2021 Masters – since a major finished without McIlroy or Scheffler in the top 10. That’s insane.
And then there’s Xander Schauffele. His T7 was his 16th top-20 finish in his last 17 major starts. Unbelievable consistency at the biggest events. It’s no accident that these three guys have won seven of the last 10 majors. They are on another level.
Aaron Rai's Defining Moments: The Shot and the Putt
I found myself posted up behind the drivable par-4 13th for a while on Sunday afternoon. Listening to the radio, watching the action unfold. They give out these headsets at some big events, and they’re a blast when things get chaotic. McIlroy and Schauffele came through, both made a mess of the hole, battling just to make bogey 5s. Then Aaron Rai comes through. From the same front bunker where Schauffele had just blasted one past the hole location, Rai pulls off the perfect shot. He finishes with a birdie 3 and suddenly, he’s in control of the tournament. That was a crucial moment.
But the shot I’ll really remember from this PGA? It’s Rai’s approach on the par-5 16th. A soaring, left-to-right banana ball. Watched it from behind the green. It didn’t just find the green; it landed perfectly to chase towards a precarious back-right pin. Set up a short eagle putt that turned into a simple birdie. If he’d made par there, the door would have stayed open. But that birdie? It felt like it was over.
I was chilling by the 17th tee as Rai marched down towards the green on that par-3 over water. A dicey tee shot – his brain’s anti-left mechanism kicking in, I guess – left him nearly 70 feet for birdie. All week, the amphitheater around the 17th green and 18th tee was the best spot on the property. I had a great wide-angle view from a couple hundred yards back. I’m thinking, “What’s a three-putt going to mean here?” He looked like he absolutely crushed the putt. For a split second, I thought it might race past the hole and into the water.
Turns out, his judgment was a little better than mine. As the ball found the bottom of the cup, I saw the crowd’s reaction a split second before the sound hit me. That somehow made the roar even louder when it arrived. (If you squint, you can see a guy in a white shirt and navy pants back by the tee… yeah, that was me.) What an exclamation point to seal the deal.
—This tournament had it all. Surprises, comebacks, moments of sheer brilliance, and the relentless consistency of the game’s best. It’s these snapshots, these individual performances and pivotal shots, that stick with you long after the final putt drops. Keep an eye on these players. The majors are where legends are made, and this PGA Championship was no exception.