par 3, 8th hole

The movement of the PGA Championship schedule from August to May has really improved the competitive nature of the event as the players didn’t  have to fight intense heat, humidity, bugs and potential violent storms that limit the type of courses that the PGA could select for the championship venue.  This year’s venue at Aronimink, designed by Donald Ross,  in the Philadelphia area was set up in US Open-like fashion with a significant premium placed on driving the ball in the fairway, coupled with devilish pin positions and clever bunkering.  There seemed to be only one cut of the rough as many teeshots spent a lot of air time in the fairway only to roll inches into the bordering rough.  Lies in the rough were uneven and these professionals do not see this type of golf in the weekly birdie fests that characterize the PGA Tour.  Power driving without fairway accuracy wasn’t going to get it done at Aronimink.  Another significant course factor was the par 3’s, which proved to be pivotal holes that decided this championship.  The field had a difficult time with chipping and putting as shots in the spinachy rough carving the contours of the greens and some bare spots behind the greens produced a cluster of bonks and chunks that are rarely seen in PGA Tour play.   The greens at Aronimink were treacherous as the constant quizzical looks of the leaders simply could not convert a myriad number of birdie opportunities and, in some cases, birdie opportunities ended up as bogeys.

Aaron Rai, a very good player on the DP World Tour from the UK, emerged from the pack brilliantly with a back nine of 31 on Sunday to conquer a field that just could not get over the hump.  Rai played consistently and smartly and didn’t make a mistake on the way in.  He unleashed a 338 yard drive on the par 5. 16th hole and made birdie to take a two stroke lead that no one could catch.   The pin placement on the par 3, 215 yard 17th hole was too difficult to pursue and the field had no choice but to place the tee shot to the right of the pin.  Rai followed this procession of tee shots to the right and then finished the deal by holing his 68 ft. putt for birdie to take a 3 shot lead.  Rai concentrated on keeping the ball in the fairway displaying great concentration and focus down the stretch.  The competition was fierce and formidable.  It appeared that the likes of Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Cam Smith, Aberg, Schmid would make the required run with their length off the tee, but these guys could not keep the drives in the fairway.  It certainly looked that McIlroy would overtake the field, but he simply could not  convert the par 5’s into birdies and could only muster even par on these holes primarily by missing the fairways.  By contrast, Scottie Scheffler hit all the fairways on Sunday but the putter did not cooperate.  Scheffler’s tee to green effort presented copious birdie opportunities  to win this event by a dozen shots but  virtually nothing went in.  Scheffler could not generate the momentum to be a factor on Sunday.  Third round leader, Alex Smalley was finally done in by the rough and some critical missed putts and fell down the leaderboard recovering at the end to finish second.  Schmid was playing with Smalley and took the lead as Smalley faltered on the front nine, but he was unable to hit the tee shots in the fairway on the way in  and stifled his ability to sustain his performance.

Rai’s victory was clearly unexpected given the “names” that were in contention in the final round.  His swing held up under the pressure with significant focus and confidence that gave him the best win of his professional career.  Rai’s acceptance speech was classy focusing on the game of golf and its affinity to the challenges of everyday life rather than his personal outstanding performance.  The PGA put on a great show here and Donald Ross would be pleased with how Aronimink challenged this field emerging as a great example of design for a championship course.