NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Somebody had to grab it. Surely it would be Jon Rahm. Maybe Ludvig Åberg could play the hero. Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele lurked nearby, too. So many of the thousands upon thousands that packed Aronimink Golf Club on Sunday had to have thought that one of golf’s superstars had to emerge from this historically congested leaderboard to win the PGA Championship.But it was Aaron Rai — a 31-year-old Englishman — who conquered Aronimink’s final 10 holes while his peers all sputtered to win his first major championship.It was Rai’s 40-foot eagle putt on 9 that thrust his name into contention.It was Rai’s approach to 4 feet on No. 11 that led to a birdie and some breathing room.And it was Rai’s 209-yard approach into the 16th green that sealed the deal. He finished at 9 under par after shooting a final-round 65.At 4 p.m. local time, Rai had just bogeyed two of three holes and fallen three back of the lead. By 5:27, he was pulling away with the PGA Championship to become the first Englishman to win the Wanamaker Trophy since 1919. When Jim Barnes won the first two PGAs, in 1916 and ’19, it was still decades from becoming a major championship.So it’s Rai who is now the most accomplished Englishman in this event. He’s a golfer who’s never finished better than tied for 19th in a major, whose putter woes cost him so much in 2026 he no longer qualified for the PGA Tour’s signature events, and who took a fifth-place finish at the alternate-field Myrtle Beach Classic a week ago to find some form, withstood four days of difficult, windy conditions for the week of his life. He entered the tournament 117th on the PGA Tour in putting. He ranked fifth on Aronimink’s daunting greens.