Aaron Rai found the key to a shock PGA victory in an unlikely place
Sunday at the PGA Championship was set to be a “free-for-all” between the game's biggest stars. Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele were in the hunt going into the final round, while Scottie Scheffler lurked on the edge.
But the chaotic Sunday promised at Aronimink never materialized. Scheffler never got out of neutral, McIlroy's driver betrayed him and Rahm couldn't find the speed of the Golden Age greens. As golf's stars aligned on Sunday, Aaron Rai took control of the tournament as he made a turn and ran away from the field in pursuit of his first major title. Rai shocked the world with his PGA Championship victory. Nothing about his recent form has suggested that Rai will be the one to leave Philadelphia with the Wanamaker Trophy. He had a top-20 finish on the year entering the event and spent the previous week on the field at the Myrtle Beach Classic while the PGA Tour's top players were at the Truist Championship.
But it was there, in Myrtle Beach, that Rai found the key to what would be a career-changing win a week later.
Rai entered Sunday at Myrtle Beach as the 54-hole leader. It was his first appearance in the finals since the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in November. That Sunday, Rai watched McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood take home the trophy. He lived a different life in Myrtle Beach, tripping over Sunday and ehe eventually finished three shots behind Brandt Snedeker.
But that last-team booster gave Rai what he needed to seamlessly navigate Sunday's cauldron at Aronimink.
“That experience at Myrtle Beach was very important for the PGA, and I'm not sure I would have handled the situation the way I did at the PGA if I hadn't had it last week at Myrtle Beach,” Rai said Tuesday at the Memorial. Two reasons actually: One, I wasn't really in the final group for about a good five months, six months before that.
“There were a few little things that happened in that round on Sunday. Quotes from the crowd, a couple of mistakes I made in the middle of the round. I think I made four bogies in a row during the turn. I just think where my mind went, some things that I could not have dealt with better, I knew a lot even on PGA Saturday when you just got new information before I thought about it. mind and it's very easy to make those changes, so it was important, really.
For the first eight holes of his final round at the PGA, Rai was teeing off. He was alone in the scene and it looked like he might be out of the decision. But he restarted after a bogey on No. 8 and cleared the pack on a crowded leaderboard within an hour. He drained a 33-foot eagle putt on the ninth and added a birdie at No. 11. Then came the short par-4 13th. Like many players on Sunday, Rai's shot found the greenside bunker. Throughout the day, players have been trying to play a piece and go from the right front pin to the left back pin. All of their shots fell short and they left the gettable 13th and par.
But Rai did what the lesson asked; he flew the gun off the back shelf and stopped it 6 feet from the pin. He rolled in the birdie putt and never looked back.
It was a seismic moment for Rai. Majors are the lenses through which we discuss seasons, careers and legacies. Those four days outside of Philadelphia would change Rai a lot, but the gravity of that success didn't hit him until he saw his father a few days later.
“It took a good couple of days, I think, to get my head around it,” Rai said. “I don't think I have it fully. But the next morning was a real joy. I only slept for four hours on Sunday night. I slept so much after that I couldn't even sleep in the morning after I woke up. So I think I'm very happy. It was when my father came to my house a few days later that I started talking a little bit and we started talking a little bit and we started talking.” soak it in little by little.”
Rai's father, Amrik, was a talented tennis player who gave up his dream to put the clubs in his son's hands. He had Rai play on a custom-made course appropriate for his age, instilled in his son the value of hard work and dedication from a young age, and helped pave the way for Aaron to win the crown at Aronimink. Amrik missed his son's victory because he fell asleep in his UK van
But when Amrik arrived in Jacksonville, his son began to feel and grasp the weight of victory.
“Dad, you are a proud man,” said Rai. “He doesn't show a lot of emotion. But the first night I saw him, his hug was a little different. His smile was a little different. We sat, and we talked for about a couple of hours or so. And again, maybe that's how big of an achievement that was. I probably felt more of what I associate with how familiar he is and how he was, so I think about those first few days. inside.”
Aaron Rai is still getting used to his new reality – to more people noticing him, to more media requests, to being called a great champion. But that's all part of the package, one he got the key to unlock Sunday only to forget about it at an event across from the stadium in Myrtle Beach.
