Everybody at the PGA Championship wound up playing for second place behind Scottie Scheffler.

Davis Riley was glad to be one of them.

Riley, a Mississippi native, recovered from a pair of disastrous holes by staying steady down the stretch and ended up with a second-place finish at the second golf major of the year.

Scheffler finished at 11-under par 273 for a five-shot victory and his third major championship.

Riley shot a 72 on Sunday and was in a three-way tie with Harris English and Bryson DeChambeau at 6-under par 278. It’s Riley’s best finish in eight career majors. He has won twice on the PGA Tour.

“Yeah, if you’d have told me at the beginning of the week I’d be in the second to last group on Sunday, I’d be stoked,” Riley said. “Very fun week, a lot to learn from, and I’m already itching for the next major.”

Riley started the final round tied for third place, four shots behind Scheffler, and teed off in the next-to-last group with J.T. Poston.

Riley made bogey on the first hole, and then his championship hopes were dashed with another bogey on No. 6 and a triple bogey on No. 7 that put him seven shots behind Scheffler.

The 28-year-old from Hattiesburg steadied things out after that, however. He birdied Nos. 8 and 10, as well as No. 17, and made par on the other eight holes coming down the stretch.

Along with some other players slipping back after making a run at Scheffler, it let Riley to climb through the pack and back into the tie for second place.

“Super excited the way I finished,” Riley said. “It was kind of a gut punch what happened on 7. I knew it put me out of position to win, but I knew there was a lot to play for, and I bounced back really good.”

Riley’s previous best finish in a major was a tie for 13th place at the 2022 PGA Championship. He tied for 21st at The Masters in April.

He’s hoping to qualify for the U.S. Open scheduled for June 12-15 at Oakmont Country Club near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His second-place finish this weekend at Quail Hollow did not put him in that field, but did give him a confidence boost.

His next tournament is the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas, which he won last year.

“I don’t know if this gets me in (the U.S. Open) or what I’ll have to do. I’m not in it at the moment. Hopefully I am, and hopefully it will springboard me and I can kind of get in contention more on some of these majors,” Riley said. “I’m looking forward to going to next week and trying to defend in Fort Worth. I’m excited I’m in good form and going back to a place I really love.”