Aaron Rai could easily be the most grounded, least excitable player in all of golf. So when he describes his breakthrough victory on the PGA Tour as “potentially life-changing” you know it is not just hype.
As well as securing the English golfer a check for more than $1.4million, Rai’s two-shot victory at the Wyndham Championship earned him a two-year extension on his PGA Tour card, and automatic entry into all of its Signature Events in 2025.
Oh, and a first trip to The Masters, a prospect which has even the unflappable Rai fighting to contain his excitement.
But despite all those rewards for his wire-to-wire win in Greensboro, North Carolina, it is a triumph that will never rank as the one he cherishes most.
That distinction belongs to the first of the three Challenge Tour victories in 2017, at the Magical Kenya Open, which earned him only a fraction of his Wyndham winnings – the first prize in Nairobi was a mere 32,500 euros.
That is around one-40th of his Wyndham windfall.
But it was achieved with his Kenyan-born mother, Dalvir, waiting to greet him on the 18th green, on the first trip back to her birthplace in almost 50 years.
The country’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, had arrived at the Muthaiga Golf Club with a few holes remaining after being told ‘one of our own’ was doing something special. And it was Mother’s Day in the UK.
Mother and son both burst into tears as they hugged each other after Rai clinched his three-shot victory. Magical indeed.
Rai, 29, said: “I think in terms of pure golfing achievement, and as a staging post in the whole journey I’ve been on as a professional golfer, the Wyndham win is by far the high point of my career so far.
“It’s incredibly difficult just to earn the right to play on the PGA Tour, never mind win one of their events. When you do get out here, you see just how intense the competition is, and you realise that if your game drops off just a fraction there are dozens of players who will simply lap you.
Aaron Rai holds the Wyndham Championship trophy
(Image credit: Getty Images)
“So yes, It’s the pinnacle of my golfing career so far. But from a purely emotional point of view, I don’t think anything could ever top my Challenge Tour win in Kenya.
“My mum was born there, but left with her family for a new life in…
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