Nice guy Aaron claims one of golf’s biggest prizes
Aaron Rai – image PGA of America
English golfer Aaron Rai’s stunning three-shot victory at this week’s PGA Championship is perhaps not the surprise that it might have appeared on initial glance.
The understated 31-year-old began the year in 23rd place in the world ranking, but his win this week has moved him to 15th, surpassing his previous best of 22nd when winning the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship two years ago.
Of Indian and Kenyan heritage but England-born, although now Florida-based, Rai turned professional in 2012 and graduated to the then European Tour in late 2018 after a successful season on the Challenge Tour, where he won three events. Soon after he won the Hong Kong Open, where he held off amongst others Matt Fitzpatrick and added a Scottish Open not long after.
Rai played events on the secondary Korn Ferry Tour’s finals where he finished runner-up in one event and thus gaining access to the 2022 PGA Tour.
He has steadily built his resume in the US, but he also played events on the DP World Tour where he won the 2025 Abu Dhabi Championship. In both Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi he defeated Tommy Fleetwood in playoffs to secure the wins.
His wins on the PGA Tour included his win at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro and now this coveted major title, becoming the first Englishman in to do so but he has also developed into a very consistent performer in the US including numerous top tens in addition to his now two wins.
Rai’s season to date on the PGA Tour had been dismal with not one top 20 in eight starts until an encouraging 5th place in last week’s alternate event in Myrtle Beach, where he finished 5th after trailing by one heading into the final round.
It appeared just the boost he needed as he attempted his 4th PGA Championship.
Rai trailed by two heading into today’s final round, but in a round of 65 highlighted by a 40-foot eagle putt at the 9th, where he took the lead, he drew clear over the closing stages with a final nine of 31 and the three-shot victory, capped off with yet another huge putt for birdie at the last.
Rai is very much a family man and enthused about the support he has been given by his wife, herself a former professional golfer, and his parents, who have played such a big role in his development as a golfer.
His wife, Gaurika Bishnoi, has been a real sounding board as he has built his success.
“She’s been incredible,” said the champion. “I’m not exaggerating when I say that I wouldn’t be here without her. Both as a companion, as a friend, as someone I’m sharing my life with, but also as a real support system for my game.
“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. She encompasses so many different sides in her opinions.
“We even had a conversation yesterday for probably 30 minutes in the car just before we got back to the hotel, just speaking a little bit about today. Again, some of the things that she mentioned in the conversations were really with me today.
“Yeah, I really wouldn’t be here without her.”
His parents, too, earned a special mention in his post-tournament media conference.
“It’s probably hard for me to really express everything that I feel towards them. I think I’ll get way too emotional to speak. Yeah, starting with my dad, he was with me every day that I went to practice from the age of 4, 5 years old. He actually quit his job and started to focus on my golf from a really young age.
“I used to read a lot about golf. He used to be really active in everything he did with me around the game. My mom has been absolutely incredible as well. She works extremely long hours to just provide for the house, really, especially with my dad also not working as much. So she did a lot of things, and her support has been phenomenal.
“Obviously, I would love to share this with them. It would be amazing if they were here. I can’t put into words how much they’ve done in terms of the support, in terms of the care, in terms of love. Again, I wouldn’t be here without them at all.”
A question was raised about his reputation as a nice guy and being so kind to all of those he crosses paths with.
“I think a lot of that has come from upbringing, my mom, my dad, my siblings. Golf was always a very big part of my life from a very young age, but my mom and my siblings were very fast to continue to reinforce the importance of just being a good person and trying to do the right things away from golf.
“And that was consistent from a very young age, from the age of 5, 6 years old. I think, as I’ve continued to develop as a junior, as an amateur, as a professional, golf in itself is an extremely humbling game.
“There’s so much hard work and discipline that goes into acquiring the skills to become better, but you also realize that nothing is ever given in this game at any point, whether it’s a tournament, whether it’s a practice round, whether it’s even away from a tournament week. All of these things have to be done diligently and require focus.”
Rai advances into the top 15 in the world and will no doubt now have played his way into calculations for next year’s Ryder Cup team in Ireland.
“I try not to consciously focus on it too much. These things are always around, whether it’s Ryder Cup, whether it’s the next event, whether it’s the next major. So those are things that you can never completely ignore, but I try not to focus on them as real motivations to push me forward.
“I hope to continue to move in a pretty similar way in terms of practice, training, application towards the game, and we’ll see where that takes me.”
