Aaron Rai will still be celebrating his superb victory at the PGA Championship, having lifted the trophy at Aronimink two weeks ago.
Rai finished his week in Pennsylvania on nine-under, three shots ahead of Jon Rahm and Alex Smalley.
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The Englishman, who has yet to return since his maiden major win, is now a two-time champion on the PGA Tour.
Rai also won the Wyndham Championship in 2024, but claimed his biggest career achievement at this year’s PGA Championship.
Now that the dust has settled, the 31-year-old has looked back on the fantastic success, giving his thoughts on the setup at Aronimink.
Aaron Rai shares Aronimink verdict after winning the PGA Championship
Speaking to 5 Clubs, Rai said: “I think the conditions played a big part and the conditions felt pretty even morning and afternoon for both sides of the draw, there did not seem to be a distinct advantage.
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“I think it was a course where it felt really hard to string extended periods of the round together.
“For instance, if you missed a fairway, it did not matter if you had 80 yards or 150 yards, it was going to be difficult to get it on the green and to then make your par.
“But it was hard to keep it on the fairways hole after hole after hole.
“There was always going to be a break in that momentum after x amount of holes when you were out of positions.
“I have never seen so many pins cut on grain changes.
“It was literally like half the hole on the down grain and half the hole on the inter-grain. I thought that created challenges on the green and it was a great set-up.
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“I felt you had to be so wary of every shot that you played and it was so hard to string all of those shots together to keep building continued momentum to turn those one, two or three unders into six, seven or eight unders which we never really saw until Sunday.”
Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
Why Aaron Rai deserves big praise for his PGA Championship win
Aronimink was under heavy scrutiny throughout the entire tournament, with its many tricky pin positions particularly coming under the spotlight.
But Rai guided himself through the course expertly, shooting rounds of 70, 69, 67 and 65 as his week got better and better.
Such progressive efforts deserve huge praise, as does his ability to lift the Wanamaker Trophy despite a major setback just beforehand.
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Rai was battling injury in PGA Championship practice, but pushed through the problem to produce a stunning upset.
Moreover, he very impressively held his nerve despite the conditions and the course setup, and indeed the hugely talented rivals that he outclassed to come out on top.
Rai withdrew from the CJ Cup Byron Nelson immediately after his win at Aronimink, with his absence from the PGA Tour continuing this week at the Charles Schwab Challenge.
Read more:
Aaron Rai’s coach shares what he is really like to be around
How many people watched Aaron Rai win the PGA Championship on TV as a five-year record broken
Michael Kim explains how he feels after watching Aaron Rai win the PGA Championship title
Read the full article here
