Hard work pays off for humble Rai at PGA Championship

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pennsylvania — With one sizzling round of 65 at Aronimink Golf Club on Sunday, Englishman Aaron Rai emerged from relative obscurity to fulfill his dream of landing a major title with a shock triumph at the PGA Championship.

The 31-year-old started his 13th major as a 300-1 outsider and Sunday's final round as one of 43 players, some of them household names, within five shots of the lead.

Rai kept his composure when it mattered, however, and picked up four birdies on the back nine, including one at the 17th on the back of a monster 68-foot putt, to become the first Englishman in 107 years to claim the Wanamaker Trophy.

"There's so many different things that you face, whether that is in the game, whether that is acquiring the skills, putting the time in that is required, facing all the setbacks that come along with it," the quietly spoken Rai said.

"It is certainly a roller coaster to get to these points, and a week like this, an achievement like this, certainly makes it all feel very much worthwhile.

"It's an absolute dream come true."

Two-time major champion Jon Rahm, who finished tied for second on Sunday, said Rai was renowned as one of the kindest and most respectful players on the PGA Tour.

Rai said that his humble outlook on life derived from his upbringing in the English Midlands as the son of migrants from India and Kenya.

"My mom and my siblings were very fast to reinforce the importance of just being a good person and trying to do the right things away from golf," he said.

Two gloves

Rai also paid tribute to his wife, Indian professional Gaurika Bishnoi, and his father, who was behind his habit of wearing two gloves and putting head covers on his irons as a reminder of how precious his clubs were when he was growing up.

"My dad was with me every day that I went to practice from the age of four or five years old, he actually quit his job and started to focus on my golf from a really young age," Rai said.

"He was very much an advocate to really just stay in your lane, focus on the things that you can do, and I didn't really mix with a lot of other junior golfers, which didn't give me a perspective of what was normal."

Hard work and diligence were the other words being bandied about by his fellow players on Sunday when they were asked to describe the world No 44.

"There are a lot of guys that work extremely hard ... so I think that's a prerequisite of what is just required to try and compete out here," Rai said.

"It's reaffirming to know that the things that we're doing are working and they're leading to continued development within the game. Hopefully, I can just continue to move along a pretty similar path moving forward."

Jim Barnes, who won the Wanamaker Trophy in 1916 and again three years later, was the only other Englishman in the long history of the tournament to win the PGA Championship.

"There's a lot of incredible and historic English players over those 100 years who have had phenomenal careers," Rai said.

"To be the person that's the first one in such a long time from England is an amazing thing, and something to be extremely proud of.

"I'm very proud to be from England, (and) I'm very proud of India and Kenya as well. I'm very proud to represent all three, really."

Mammoth birdie putt

The day began with a tournament-record 22 players within four shots of the lead entering the final round, and, for much of the day, a playoff seemed inevitable.

But Rai, who went out in the third-to-last pairing and two shots behind overnight leader Alex Smalley, had other ideas and kick-started his day at the par-five ninth with a 40-foot eagle putt.

Two holes later, Rai moved into a share of the lead with Matti Schmid after stuffing his approach shot to four feet for birdie. He had the outright lead shortly after, when Schmid, playing in the final pairing, bogeyed the 10th.

Rai, with a slew of players breathing down his neck, then stepped on the gas and became the first player to reach seven under on the week with a sensational up-and-down from a greenside bunker on the par-four 13th for a birdie and a two-shot lead.

After Schmid got back to within one of Rai, the Englishman countered with a birdie on the par-five 16th to put one hand on the Wanamaker Trophy and sealed the biggest win of his career with his mammoth putt on hole 17.

"Definitely wasn't trying to hole that putt," said Rai.

"The shadow of the pin gave a really nice line for probably the last 10 feet. So that definitely helped with the visual of the putts. Amazing to see that one go in."

Rai's triumph, which comes a month after Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy retained his Masters title, marks the first time in the era of the four current major championships that the season's first two majors have been won by Europeans.

LIV Golf's Rahm (68) only managed one birdie over the back nine, while second-placed Smalley (70), who started the day with a two-shot lead, eagled the 16th to earn his career-best finish at a major.

"I played really good golf. That's the only way to look at it," said Rahm. "I just wish I'd done better with the speed of the greens."