Aaron Rai’s life changed on the 18th green at Aronimink, but his lifestyle didn’t. Rai, 31 from Wolverhampton, became the first Englishman to win the PGA Championship since 1919, earning himself $3,690,000, and a lifetime exemption to the tournament doing it, and promptly said he was going to celebrate it all by going to Chipotle. He didn’t seem quite able to take in what he had achieved, and had no idea about what would come next, whether it was a tilt at another major, or a run at the Ryder Cup, only that it would all begin with a visit to his favourite burrito joint.
“I haven’t thought that far ahead just yet,” Rai said when he was asked how he would celebrate. “He’ll probably have Chipotle,” his wife, Gaurika Bishnoi, cut in. Presumably he’s buying.
Rai only found out about the hundred-year jinx on Saturday night. “There’s been a lot of incredible and historic English players over those hundred years,” Rai said, “players who have gone on to achieve incredible things and had phenomenal careers, so 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 and something to be extremely proud of.”
Rai dedicated the victory to Bishnoi, who he said had given him some crucial advice on Saturday night, after he lost his share of the lead by making a bogey on the 18th.
“I’m not exaggerating when I say that I wouldn’t be here without her,” Rai said. “She’s a professional golfer herself. So her mindset, her advice, her thoughts, whether it’s technique or the way I’m holding myself is absolutely invaluable. We even had a conversation yesterday for probably 30 minutes in the car just before we got back to the hotel, just and some of the things that she mentioned in the conversations were really with me today.”
Rai said that the secret to steering his way through one of the most congested leaderboards in the history of major golf was to simply ignore it. “Honestly, I didn’t look too much at the leaderboard,” he said.
“I knew there were a lot of people that were relatively close, but I think regardless of how bunched that it was, it still required a really good, strong round of golf. The course really demanded it this week, it was so punishing. You couldn’t lose a split-second of focus at any part, whether it was a tee shot, whether it was an approach shot, whether it was a putt.” And he didn’t.
As a kid, Rai used to watch and rewatch VHS tapes of Tiger Woods’ early successes. “We used to watch them a helluva lot, probably two, three times a week, if not more,” he said, “the videos of his US Amateur wins and then his early professional career. He’s such an icon and such a huge figure in the game … and he’s someone that I really idolized. I just remember being in awe just watching all of the things that he could do.”
And it was then that what Rai had just done seemed to finally dawn on him. “To have my name even with him on this trophy is …” he paused, and grinned from ear to ear, “… incredible.”