Scheffler rolls to PGA victory as Rahm crashes and burns on Green Mile
Scottie Scheffler poses with the Wanamaker trophy after winning the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club on Sunday, May 18, 2025 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Darren Carroll/PGA of America)
World number one Scottie Scheffler avoided a demolition derby finish and claimed the 107th PGA Championship and his third major title as Jon Rahm ended up as road kill on the Green Mile at Quail Hollow.
Three shots clear of Alex Noren and five ahead of Rahm heading into the final day, he saw his lead disappear as he found just two fairways on the front nine and turned in two-over 37.
Playing two groups behind, Rahm emerged from the chasing pack to challenge the game’s top player only to come unstuck and drop five shots over the three hole finishing stretch.
Scheffler put one hand on the Wanamaker Trophy with birdies at the 14th and 15th as Rahm followed a bogey at the 16th with visits to the water at the 17th and 18th that led to fatal double bogeys.
From tied for the lead with seven holes to play, Rahm shot 73 and ended up in a nine-way tie for eighth on four-under, seven shots behind Scheffler, who could afford to bogey the last and shoot a level par 71 to claim a five-shot win over from Harris English (65), Bryson DeChambeau (70) and Davis Riley (72) on 11-under-par.
The Texas-based American was relentless on the back nine for the second day running, coming home in an immaculate three-under 33.
It was a sad end for burly Spaniard Rahm, who birdied the eighth, 10th and 11th to draw level on nine-under before Scheffler started hitting fairways again and gradually inched clear.
A birdie at the 10th gave the two-time Masters champion a one-stroke lead and when Rahm, who had nine single putts in the first 11 holes, failed to birdie the 14th or 15th after unfortunate bounces, Scheffler pounced.
Having struggled from the tee early and made little on the greens, Scheffler made a seven-footer for birdie at the 14th to go two clear, then chipped dead to birdie the 15th.
Rahm was in trouble up ahead and after bunkering his approach to bogey the 16th, he caromed through the green into the water at the 216-yard 17th and made a fatal double-bogey five to fall five shots behind before dropping two more shots after a water-bound tee shot at the 18th.
The day belonged to Scheffler, who played his last five holes in five-under on Saturday to take a three-shot lead over Sweden’s Alex Noren into the final round with a brilliant 65.
While he bogeyed the first and followed a birdie at the second with another bogey at the sixth, he was four shots clear of no fewer than nine players on 10-under.
They included Rahm, who birdied the eighth and 10th to get within two of the leader, who failed to birdie the reachable par-five seventh or the short par-four eighth, before dropping a shot at the ninth.
His lead was down to one stroke over Rahm, but the Spaniard failed to take advantage of the scoring holes early on the back nine, he came unstuck on the Green Mile.
The debate over his move to LIV Golf will go on and until he wins another major, it will be difficult to argue that he lacks the sharpness necessary to beat a man like Scheffler in the toughest conditions.
For a while, it looked possible that the Legion XIII star could upset the world number one.
He fist pumped as he rolled in a 15-footer for birdie for his ninth single putts of the day at the 11th to draw level on nine-under.
He even had a chance to take the solo lead with a downhill 14 footer at the 12th. But he missed low and Scheffler made a nine footer for a sand save birdie four at the 10th to go one ahead again on 10-under.
After Rahm lipped out for birdie from 20 feet at the 13th, Scheffler watched outside chances slip by at the 11th, 12th and 13th.
It might have been different had Rahm birdied the 14th or par-five 15th. But the bounces went against him, and his race was run when he followed that bogey at the 16th with those late double bogeys.
Masters champion Rory McIlroy tied for 47th on three-over after a 72 and left without a word to the media, while fellow Holywood Golf Club man Tom McKibbin was a shot further back in joint 50th after an adventurous 73.
