Golf’s recent run of major championship winners has included stars with big games and bigger names. Cinch Hall of Famers Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Xander Schauffele were among the 11 previous major champions heading into the 108th PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia.
Aaron Rai stopped that trend with a brilliant display of golf on Aronimink’s final 10 holes to cap off a week where many stars were in position to lift the Wanamaker Trophy, but it was left to the Englishman to walk away with one of golf’s four biggest prizes after his three-shot victory over Rahm and Alex Smalley on May 17.
Before Sunday, Rai may not have had the Q rating, pedigree or on-course charisma that organizations, sponsors and TV networks typically want out of their winners, yet you will be hard-pressed to find a more popular winner among his peers.
“You won’t find one person on property who’s not happy for him,” said McIlroy, whose attempt to win his second consecutive major fell five shots short.
Rai’s popularity comes from doing the little things correct: He works hard on his game and his body, and he shows respect to all.
Few saw this coming. Rai was 44th in the world entering the PGA Championship, had just one Top-10 finish this year – a fifth in the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic the week before – and his best finish in 12 career majors was T19.
“Very surreal,” Rai said. “It’s been a bit of a frustrating season. To be standing here is outside my wildest imagination.”
Rai’s victory was as historic as it was unexpected. He became the first Englishman to win the PGA Championship in more than a century, since Jim Barnes won the first and second PGAs in 1916 and 1919.
“Extremely, extremely proud,” Rai said after finishing at 9-under 271. “There’s a lot of incredible and historic English players over those 100 years who have gone on to achieve incredible things and had phenomenal careers, but to win this event and then to be the person that’s the first one to have won it in a long time from England is an amazing thing.”
Rai’s win also stopped a streak of 10 consecutive Americans winning the year’s second major, but he was welcomed by the boisterous Philadelphia fans. What’s not to like about the hard-working 31-year-old who was born in Wolverhampton, England.
Even his idiosyncrasies – wearing two black gloves when he’s swinging a club and having covers for his irons – are to be admired for their reasons. He wore two gloves to stay warm when he played with his father, Amrik Singh, during the winter months; he uses the iron covers because his father spent beyond his means to buy his son an expensive set of clubs and he wanted to protect them.
“My dad played a really big role in that,” Rai said. “It was just the two of us who used to go onto the golf course and practice together, probably until I was 13 or 14. So I think he was very much an advocate to just stay in your lane, focus on the things that you can do.
“I think by the time he probably allowed me to play more kind of professional golf, I felt like I was strong enough in why I did certain things to be able to continue to move that forward. I believe in the reasons why I do them.”
Rai started the final round two shots behind Smalley. It was an uneven start — Rai birdied the first, bogeyed the third and birdied the fourth. After bogeys at No. 6 and No. 8, Rai appeared to be on the rocks, three out of the lead.
But he used his accuracy – he ranked 66th in driving distance but fourth in driving accuracy – to reach the par-5 ninth in two and rolled in a 45-footer to move within a shot. Game on.
“The putt for eagle was definitely a bonus,” Rai said. “We were lucky it went in. That helped to get things moving in a better direction.”
Rai rolled in a 4-foot birdie at No. 11 to tie for the lead. A long bunker shot to 7 feet at the drivable par-4 13th gave him the lead for good. He two-putted at the par-5 16th to pad his advantage, then made a 68-foot prayer at the par-3 17th as the defining moment of the Championship.
“Definitely wasn’t trying to hole that putt,” Rai said. “It was so long that I was just trying to put good speed on it. Amazing to see that one go in.”
The PGA Championship victory changes Rai’s career arc. He moved into the top 30 in the world rankings, is in all the majors and signature events for the next five years, and may get his first opportunity to play in the PGA of America’s other premier event, the Ryder Cup, in 2027. Amazing how it took a decade for Rai to become an overnight success story.
“It definitely feels like a journey,” Rai said. “Everyone playing in the field this week has a great journey to be able to share, and I’m no exception to that.”—Craig Dolch
