After 1 week, 10 PGA scenes tell the story
It’s Friday now which means, when adjusted for inflation, the 2026 PGA Championship ended almost three and a half years ago.
But I haven’t moved on yet.
(In fairness, and frankly, I planned to finish and publish this piece on Monday, but in short, I didn’t.
I wrote about Aaron Rai Sunday night. But here are 10 sights, sounds, figures and sensations from Aronimink that keep rattling my skull.
1. Padraig’s dream
When I talk to Padraig Harrington on Saturday evening, he was dreaming of Sunday’s charge, of the impossible victory of the chase from T31, a double shot on the leaderboard full of traffic.
He didn’t finish his tale – but he got something great anyway. After a ho-hum first 15 holes on Sunday he made an eagle on No. 16.
Then after a par on No. 17, he knocked in a cool spot with petals on No. 18 for a birdie for an under-par, top-20 finish.
So how good was Harrington’s tournament?
-His T18 was his biggest result in five years (since his T4 at the 2021 PGA)
-He is just the third player age 54 or older to finish in the top 20 on the PGA Tour, joining Sam Snead and Gene Sarazen. (Note, Snead finished T4-T9-T3 in 1970-1971-1972 at age 60-61-62.)
-Over the final 54 holes (minus his opening 74) Harrington shot 69-67-69, five under par, bettered only by Ludwig Aberg (seven under) and Aaron Rai (nine under).
We move on to the US Open at Shinnecock, where Harrington will continue to dream.
2. Cam Smith’s stroke
It was fun to see Cam Smith he’s back in contention — in part to watch him hit big-time putts. After six consecutive missed cuts to the majors, Smith hired a new swing coach (Claude Harmon III) and soon put on a show of lines with his irons, perfectly matched with the putter that had burned his entire golfing life.
Smith’s driving is still a complete adventure, which adds to the joy of watching. But he’s clearly found some magic in Aronimink, and I’m curious to see where he takes this form next.
After the tournament, Smith expressed his excitement – and admitted how bittersweet it was to find success with a new coach.
“I’m proud of the way I came out this week, with a new thought and a new twist,” he said. “It was a difficult call for my coach Grant [Field] since I was 9 years old. So I had been with him for 23 years, and it was probably one of the hardest calls I’ve ever had to make.
“And, yes, it’s still delayed, but I feel like I made the right call, and I can see it in my golf and my swing and seeing different shots. It’s been great.”
3. Rahm’s sincerity
Victory takes care of everything, as Tiger Woods he used to say.
Next up: Finishing T2 by playing too well to get beaten by a guy who made four birdies and an eagle in the last 10 holes. probably everything. Come in Jon Rahmwho was happy after his final round 68 left him at T2, his first top-five finish since 2023.
I enjoyed his golf, and I appreciated his honesty on Sunday evening as he reflected on the first week’s story that the score would be very low:
“I spent most of Monday and Tuesday thinking about what’s wrong with me, because everyone was saying we’re going to shoot 15-20-under here, and I don’t see a chance in the world of that happening,” he said. “It’s nine past six [under par, for first and second place] still lower than I expected.
“I mean obviously I did well last week [T8 at LIV Virginia]. I did very well in Mexico [winning LIV Mexico]. After the Kings [T38] I was playing well. I just – when the pressure is so high in the majors, some of those things you work on, those weak links can hurt the foundation, right? I’m just happy that all those things that I felt like I could have done better at Augusta finally worked out this week.”
4. Two Masters invitations
Alex Smalley he couldn’t hold on for two shots going into Sunday’s final round. But he received a number of consolation prizes – including an invitation to next year’s Masters.
After a long time to decide the winner of the tournament, Smalley completed an eagle-bogey-birdie to finish T2, while his partner played. Matt Schmidt completed T4. Neither has played the Masters, and because any top-four finish earns an invitation to Augusta National, that’s about to change.
And it’s clear that was on Smalley’s mind on the final green.
“I’m really excited about going to Augusta next year. I knew a top four and a tie would get you into Augusta, so I knew that was possible,” Smalley said. “I wasn’t thinking about it, honestly, until I hit the green on 18 and I saw where I was. I was just trying to two-putt, just trying to roll back. That 20 feet up the hill on 18, I was trying to get the tap. Luckily enough it went in.
(It was worth it too, like a million bucks.)
“As for this tournament, who knows about my career? Maybe the field. It gives me a lot of confidence starting this week to know that I can compete on the PGA Tour and even other major tournaments.”
5. PGA invitations to return
The top 15 finishers and ties are invited back to next year’s PGA Championship, which could mean a big opportunity. (The 2025 PGA, for example, included fewer wild card players, meaning fewer players like them Davis Riley, Joe Highsmith again Johnny Vegas return to the 2026 PGA where they would not be playing.)
In particular, this year’s top 15 is full of high-quality players who we will expect to return next year, but it is a good guarantee for Smalley (World No. 42) and Schmid (No. 65) as well. Kurt Kitayama (No. 29) and Max Greyserman (No. 63) know that they have one big time in 2027 to count on, even if other things go sideways.
6. Jumping to the world level
This is a fun fact more than anything else, but some of the world’s biggest jumps after the PGA are reminiscent of some unexpected members of the supporting cast of the week.
– Team pro Ben Kern he made the cut, completed 80 and was out which is not counted to Number 1781
-Harrington’s T18 knocked him from No. 894 to 502
–Martin Kaymer finished T35 to jump to Number 1160 to 720
-Reigning Ryder Cup champion Luke Donald made the cut, finished T70 and jumped to No. 1300 to Number 1081
– Again Cam SmithT7 took him to No. 239 to 145
7. Scottie, Rory, Xander
Rory McIlroy finished T7, his 15th finish of eighth or better since 2020.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler finished T14.
How consistent was their joint presence in the majors? It’s now more than five years – since the 2021 Masters – since we finished a major without McIlroy or Scheffler in the top 10.
And then there is Xander Schauffelehis T7 was his first top 20 in the last 17 majors. Deceptive consistency in the game’s biggest events.
It is inconceivable that these three have won seven of the last 10 medals.
8. Aaron Rai’s shot at No. 13
I posted behind the drivable par-4 13th for a while on Sunday afternoon, watching the action while listening to something else on the radio. (They bring out these earphones at some big events. They’re great fun to have around when things get messy.)
McIlroy and Schauffele went through and each made a mess of the hole, battling to make identical bogey 5s. But then Aaron Rai he came again, from the same spot in front where Schauffele had just sailed past the hole in the back corner, and fired the right shot. When he completed his birdie 3, he took control of the tournament for good.
9. Aaron Rai’s shot at No. 16
If there’s one ball flight I’ll remember from the 2026 PGA it’s seeing Rai’s approach shot on the par-5 16th, a rising banana ball, from left to right I watched from behind the green. If he had measured there, the door would have remained open. Rather indeed it seemed to be over.
10. Aaron Rai’s placement at No. 17
I sat in the comfort of the grass near the 17th tee as Rai walked down to the green on the front hole, a par-3 over water. The drawn shot (his brain’s anti-left mechanism takes over) left him about 70 feet for birdie. All week the amphitheater around the 17th green and 18th tee was the best in the area and I enjoyed the wide view from a few hundred yards behind the action. I wondered what the three-putt might mean. Impact Rai seemed to my eyes to crush his putt, too; for a second I wondered if it could run through the hole and into the water.
Turns out his judgment was a little better than mine. As the ball hits the bottom of the cup, I he saw the reaction of the crowd just a second before the sound reached me, somehow making the roar louder when it arrived.
(Look at the eyes and you can see a hunched over man in a white shirt and navy pants back next to the tea…)
What an exclamation point.
