Scottie Scheffler has claimed that this year's PGA Championship title, which he won at Quail Hollow over the weekend, was the hardest battle of his career.

Scheffler ended the tournament five shots clear of the closest competition on 11-under after going out for the final round with a three-shot lead.

The 28-year-old recovered from blowing a five-shot lead and also withstood a challenge from Jon Rahm, who pulled level with him just after the halfway point before falling out of contention after dropping five shots over the Green Mile.

Scheffler, meanwhile, birdied on 10, 14 and 15 to pull clear of competition.

"To step up when I needed to the most, this back nine will be one that I remember for a long time," Scheffler said after winning his first PGA Championship to go with his two Masters victories," he said, as quoted by Sky Sports.

"I felt like this was as hard as I battled for a tournament in my career. It was a pretty challenging week.

"The first two days I did not swing it my best and I was able to post a score somehow. The last five holes yesterday [Saturday], that's where I really kind of put myself ahead in the tournament."

Scheffler had dragged himself into a three-shot lead on Saturday evening after shooting five-under through the final five holes on Saturday, and he needed that advantage to keep Rahm at bay.

"I knew somebody was going to make a move today," he said. "There's too much talent in the game of golf for me to slap the ball around today with a three-shot lead - three shots in 18 holes is really not that much.

"With this closing stretch, you can never be complacent with your game. I had seen that Jon and I were tied when I was playing the 10th maybe.

"I did my best to keep executing shots and stay in my little bubble. I just prepared for Jon to go out and have a great back nine as well. He's a great player and a great champion, and he does a really good job of stepping up in the big moments.

"I didn't really relax until I got the ball over the water on 17. I felt like after that, I could kind of limp on 18 with the lead that I had."

Scott from Texas wins by 5.@ROLEX | #Reachforthecrown pic.twitter.com/OSSdVg8Gq3

— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 19, 2025

The competition win marks Scheffler's third major, including two out of four, having previously won the Masters twice. The world no.1 now needs to win The Open and US Open to complete the grand slam.

"I love coming out here and trying to compete and win golf tournaments, that's what I'm focused on," he said.

"After this week I'm going to go home and get ready for next week's tournament, and the show goes on. If I show up and miss the cut next week, I'm going to have to answer questions of what went wrong and just start over again on Thursday.

"That's one of the things that can be frustrating about our game and it's also what's great about our game. If I had a tough day today and came in with a loss, I could step back up on the tee Thursday next week and have another chance to win a tournament.

"It's an endless pursuit and it's a lot of fun. It's definitely one of the great joys of my life to be able to compete out here."