Aaron Rai described his season in the only way you can: It just unfolded.
After an uninspiring start that saw the Englishman make one top 20 and miss three cuts in his first eight events, appearing at this week’s Tour Championship was at the back of his mind.
He smelt a faint scent for the top of a PGA Tour leaderboard at last year’s RBC Canadian Open, missing out on a playoff by one shot with his countryman Tommy Fleetwood and the eventual winner Nick Taylor.
Rai rediscovered that aroma in May this year when his season kicked into gear. He was three shots behind another Canadian winner Taylor Pendrith at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. A tied-for-second finish at the Rocket Mortgage Classic was another block on the road to the Wyndham Championship which proved to be the site of his first PGA Tour win and a timely one given the three-legged FedEx Cup Playoffs started the week after.
“It has been a really consistent year, even from January to April, the results were OK but nothing special, but there were a lot of really good signs in the game,” Rai told NCG at East Lake. “I think from the Byron Nelson to the late part of the summer, a lot of really good solid performances. I think being in those situations a little more often just helped to feel a little more comfortable.”
“There were a lot of good signs in the game, striking it well, putting was very good for a period of time which all jelled together to be being in contention a lot, then I played really well at Wyndham too, a couple of things fell in our favour which worked out in winning that week.”
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Things fell into place for sure. Max Greyserman made his second eagle of the final round on hole 13 at Sedgefield Country Club to build a four-shot lead, but he gave this meaty advantage back to the course on the next hole with a quadruple bogey.
The American was completely reeled in when he subsequently three-putted from four feet in club-golfer fashion on the 16th hole to open the door that Rai had been knocking on for months.
But all credit to the 29-year-old from Wolverhampton. Coated in the double-glove look he has become recognised for, Rai produced a faultless bogey-free 64, featuring a consecutive four-hole stretch of birdies on the front nine, with a calm putt on the 72nd hole to seal his first US title and leave Greyserman crestfallen back in the fairway.
Rai admits his first PGA Tour title felt marginally more rewarding than the two DP World Tour trophies to his name, given the depth of competition in the States plus acclimatising to a new lifestyle and catalogue of golf courses and terrains. But this is not to diminish the meaning of his triumphs on the Old World circuit.
He broke through in Hong Kong in 2018 and again at the Scottish Open in 2020. The Wyndham ceremony was the perfect end to his PGA Tour graduation in 2024, but Rai cherishes each moment equally and as a culmination of the graft he put in as a progressing pro that came through the EuroPro and Challenge Tour ranks.
“The first win on any tour is incredibly special, going back to the first win on the DP World Tour in 2018, it’s such a long road to get there, there’s so much that goes into it, both as a professional and an amateur and junior growing up,” he added.
“It is truly a dream come true and coming over here, I’ve been over here for three years now, understanding how difficult it is, how strong the levels are, also how much your lifestyle changes, it ramps up even more, compared to playing on the DP World Tour.
“A lot of that is because of the proximity of where you are to home, you have to move away from home, you get used to not seeing the people you’re used to seeing, you’re getting used to a different style of courses, different grass, there’s a little bit more depth I would say as well, and a lot more things get put on your plate.
“So, although the feeling was quite similar, it was incredibly special for all three of those wins but acknowledging there are a lot of challenges you have to come through to give yourself a chance to be out here and to compete, that probably felt a little bit more rewarding.”
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Perhaps it’s time for Rai to look to the majors as his next focus point if he hasn’t already. Solid performances at the US Open and the PGA Championship did not harm his progress to the Tour Championship here in Atlanta, an event where the top 30 players from the PGA Tour season play to win the FedEx Cup.
He has played in all but one major, but he will complete his major portfolio in April at the Masters where has now earned an invitation. Danny Willett broke the English hoodoo of Augusta National in 2016, a nation that had been winless at America’s greatest golf venue since Sir Nick Faldo in 1996.
Rai is about as calm and collected as you could imagine for a top professional competing in the hot, sweaty cauldron of the FedEx Cup Playoffs which has reached Georgia, having previously stopped at Memphis and Colorado. To me, he was undeterred and portrayed a character who belonged in a field with the PGA Tour’s best players.
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But even the level-tempered, thoughtful Rai couldn’t hide his excitement at the prospect of his Masters debut which, along with earning a spot at the Tour Championship, is a large sign of his steep upward trajectory.
“I’ve definitely thought about it a little bit,” Rai said of the Masters. “That would amazing and truly a dream come true, I think I haven’t had time to sit with the things that come with the Wyndham, even getting my head around winning because it’s been so back-to-back with the playoffs starting.
“It’s extremely special to play at Augusta and to be able to plan next season out a little bit better with the signature events, with the majors and that would be an exciting thing to look forward to, but at the same time, that will present a lot of other challenges and other difficulties at times and I think it’s all part of continuing to learn and become better over time.”
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