Alex Smalley leads PGA Championship finale as Rahm, McIlroy chase

Alex Smalley entered the final round of the 108th PGA Championship with the kind of lead that invites pressure from every direction. His two-shot advantage at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, set up a Sunday with 30 players within five shots and 22 golfers within four, a crowded chase that left little margin for error and plenty at stake for the players near the top.

The championship, staged May 11-17 at the Donald Ross design outside Philadelphia, has become a test not just of form but of consequence. Smalley’s third-round 68 put him in front, but Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Reed, Ludvig Åberg and Aaron Rai were all in range behind him. For Smalley, the payoff would be a first major title and a place in the game’s record book. For the pursuers, the final round offered a chance to turn a strong week into a career statement at one of golf’s most scrutinized stages.

Aronimink has not hosted the PGA Championship since Gary Player won there in 1962, and this return to the Philadelphia suburbs sharpened the sense of history. The winner would take the Wanamaker Trophy, awarded to PGA champions since 1916, and join a line that includes Walter Hagen and Jack Nicklaus with five victories each, along with Tiger Woods at four. The financial stakes were substantial too, with a record $20.5 million purse on the line.

The field had already been pared to 82 players after the cut settled at 4-over, leaving the weekend’s final chase to a group that survived a 156-player entry list and the top-70-and-ties rule after 36 holes. If Sunday ended in a tie after 72 holes, the championship would move to a three-hole aggregate playoff over Nos. 10, 17 and 18, with sudden death on 18 if needed. That format underscored the tension around Smalley’s lead: one mistake could force extra holes, while one clean stretch could deliver the biggest win of his career. In a championship built on narrow margins, Aronimink was set up for a finish that would reshape reputations as much as the leaderboard.