DUBLIN, Ohio – PGA Championship winner Aaron Rai was fine-tuning his putting stroke on the practice-putting green at Muirfield Village Golf Club on Tuesday ahead of this week’s signature event, The Memorial Tournament, when Masters champ Rory McIlroy approached him and the winners of the first two majors shared an embrace. Rai – who tees off on Thursday at 1:35 p.m. local time – is making his first start since becoming golf’s latest major champion on May 17, and McIlroy isn’t the only one to congratulate the 31-year-old Englishman. Rai noted that England’s royal family had highlighted his achievement in a post on its official social media account after he became the first from jolly old England to win the PGA Championship since Jim Barnes in 1919.“That definitely stood out,” he said.
Aaron Rai poses with the trophy after winning the final round of the PGA Championship golf tournament. Rai spent Sunday night and Monday in Philadelphia, not far from Aronimink Golf Club, site of his triumph, before heading home to Jacksonville, Fla., and a few reminders that he had gained admission into a new world in the game of golf.“It took a good few days, I think, for me to really get my head around it,” he said. “I mean, I don’t think I still have fully.”One of those instances was during a visit to his local grocery store his first night back and being recognized on more than one occasion.
“Which never normally happens,” he said. “I wasn’t even in golf clothes.”More: Memorial Tournament leaderboard live updates, scores, tee times, highlightsHe was, however, dressed in his standard uniform of golf attire the next morning when he showed up to practice at TPC Sawgrass. He said it took him a while to get from the parking lot to the practice area due to all the well-wishers.“I haven’t felt that different,” Rai said.
“There are definitely times where it’s crossed my mind of winning a major and what that means to me and other times where I haven’t thought about it for a few hours whilst I’m practicing, and then it hits me, and it’s like, wow, that’s incredible.”Being recognized for his achievement served as a reminder for Rai of just how far he’s come - from his first tournament as a 4-year-old in a 12-and-under age group, winning the net division and finishing second in gross to turning pro at age 17 and missing his first four cuts on the EuroPro Tour Rai picked up his second career Tour title and eighth victory worldwide as he’s made a steady climb to 13th in the Official World Golf Ranking entering this week He was a 175-to-1 longshot at the start of the PGA, and even heading into the final round starting one shot back, he was being overlooked.“He’s not someone you’d pick out to be a major champion when you look at the skillset, the toolbox, compared to the way the game is played now,” said Claude Harmon III on his podcast, “Son of a Butch.” “He doesn’t hit the golf ball a long way, so, he has to get things done in a different fashion.”Rai noted that playing in the final group and failing to get the job done at the OneFlight Myrtle Beach Classic, an opposite-field event held the same week as a signature event and one week before the PGA, served as critical prep for executing in crunch at the PGA and played a “massive” role in his victory.
He hadn’t been in the trophy hunt for about six months as he battled injuries, and that experience of feeling the sort of pressure that can’t be simulated in practice - including a stretch of four bogeys on the back nine that knocked him from contention - proved invaluable.“I’m not sure I would have handled the situation as well as I did at the PGA if I hadn’t experienced it the week before at Myrtle Beach,” he said. “I think when you’ve had that experience so recently before, it’s a lot fresher in the mind and it’s a lot easier to make those adjustments. So, yeah, that was crucial, really.”Getting his hands on the Wanamaker Trophy was a surreal moment for Rai.
He had heard that holding the silver trophy, which weighs 27 pounds, could count as an upper-body workout, but he still felt unprepared for how heavy it was. “I was pretty comfortable for probably the first minute or so and then after that I definitely started to feel it burning,” he said More: Aaron Rai won the PGA Championship, but his Wanamaker Trophy is damagedGetting a firm grip on what it means to be a major champion didn’t fully register until his father, Amrik, flew in to celebrate.
Rai recounted how on the night of his victory he had phoned his father back in England, but he was on a camping trip and fast asleep. Rai described his father as not the type to show much emotion outwardly, but on their first evening together they sat and spoke for hours, and he couldn’t hide his pride.“His hug was a little bit different, his smile was a little bit different,” Rai said. “That definitely held a lot of weight with me.”Adam Schupak is a senior writer for Golfweek, covering the PGA Tour.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: PGA winner Aaron Rai reflects on surreal victory
