Aaron Rai

Aaron Rai looked to be losing his grip on the PGA Championship during the closing stretch of the final round. Having started the day just two shots off the lead, three bogeys in his opening eight holes suddenly made the Wanamaker Trophy seem out of reach. But on the ninth hole, the tide began to turn. After two majestic shots, he holed his putt for eagle and was off and running. On the back nine, the Englishman put on a golf clinic, hitting 6 of 7 fairways, 7 of 9 greens, and needing only 13 putts, capped by a showstopping 21-meter birdie putt on 17 that all but clinched his first major victory.

The triumph capped a memorable year for the Wolverhampton native. Last summer, Rai married Indian professional golfer Gaurika Bishnoi and even spent part of their honeymoon caddying for his wife at the Hero Women’s Indian Open. “When I returned to the Abu Dhabi Championship after eight weeks away from the game, I had no expectations, which ironically may have been part of the recipe for success,” he said after winning his second Rolex Series event. “The combination of good preparation and happiness in my private life turned out to be the perfect mix.”

Family has always played a central role in Rai’s life and career. Born on March 3, 1995, as the youngest of four children, he grew up watching his parents work tirelessly to provide opportunities for the family. His mother worked as a psychiatric nurse, while his father earned a living as a social worker. It was his father who first introduced Aaron to golf. “He worked in a local park where he and his friends occasionally played golf, and he often took me along,” Aaron recalls. By the age of four, Rai was already competing in junior tournaments and quickly gained attention as one of England’s brightest young talents.

After turning professional in 2012, Rai’s rise was steady rather than immediate. He broke through on the Challenge Tour in 2017 with victories at the Kenya Open, the Costa del Sol Match Play, and the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge, earning a battlefield promotion to the European Tour.

His first DP World Tour title followed at the Hong Kong Open in 2018 before his breakthrough victory at the Scottish Open in 2020 established him among Europe’s elite players. The disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly opened the door to the PGA Tour, and Rai took full advantage. After securing his card through the Korn Ferry Finals in 2021, he relocated to Florida and gradually adapted his game to the demands of American golf. The breakthrough in the United States finally arrived in 2024, when a brilliant closing round at the Wyndham Championship earned him his first PGA Tour victory and a coveted invitation to the Masters Tournament.

Despite his success, Rai has never lost the grounded mindset shaped by his upbringing. He remains one of the few professionals who still uses iron covers, a habit that dates back to his father carefully protecting his clubs when he was a child. “The covers are a reminder to appreciate what I have,” Rai explains. “It’s very easy to take this position for granted.” His resistance to unnecessary change can also be seen in his famous two black gloves and his long loyalty to older equipment setups, even while competing against the best players in the world. “I believe in the reasons why I do them, so I had no reason to really shift from that as I got older,” he explained after his major triumph.