If you didn’t watch the PGA Championship yesterday, you really missed out.
It was a jammed leaderboard where a few dozen players started the round with aspirations of claiming the Wanamaker. Most figured one of the stars would break away from the pack.
But just as we were barreling toward total chaos and the prospect of a 10-man playoff, the unlikeliest of heroes emerged for his first major title.
Englishman Aaron Rai shot a final-round 65 to claim victory by three strokes, totally dominating down the stretch. Rai started slowly but made eagle at No. 9 and then gained control of the tournament with birdies at Nos. 13 and 16. He poured home a 68-foot bomb for birdie on the 17th, and that was all she wrote.
Rai might not be the most well-known player out there, and that’s for good reason. He came into the week ranking No. 63 in Data Golf and No. 44 in the Official World Golf Ranking. His only top-10 finish this year came at the ONEFlight Myrtle Beach Classic. He didn’t even qualify for the signature event that week and had to play opposite field.
The 31-year-old had three European Tour victories and one PGA Tour win prior to this but never finished in the top 10 at a major before. Now he’s a major winner.
It goes even deeper than that, however. On an Aronimink course that favored bombers and came down to tricky putting around severely sloped greens, nothing about Rai’s profile would suggest he would have success. He’s well below Tour average off the tee and on the greens.
This season, Rai ranks 160th in driving distance and 117th in putting. Last year, he was 171st in driving distance and 132nd in putting.
No matter, Rai gained nearly four strokes on the greens this past week. He also gained slightly off the tee, relying on his accuracy instead of power.
It makes for one of the biggest major stunners golf has ever seen. Rai came into the week at 200/1 odds.
The story behind Rai’s unique gear choices
Rai is an interesting story on multiple levels, particularly with his gear.
As my colleague Brittany points out, he uses iron covers for a very wholesome and justified reason. That move would typically be ridiculed in golf circles, but not in Rai’s case.
But that choice, while intriguing, isn’t something that directly impacts his golf.
Here are three unique gear choices Rai makes—all of which do directly impact his golf—that ensure he stands out amongst the Tour crowd.
1. He wears two gloves
The most obvious one is that Rai, unlike virtually every single Tour pro you could name, uses two black gloves.
The gloves are MacWet Original Micromesh Gloves, traditionally used as rain gloves—though Rai sticks with the two gloves no matter the conditions.
“It started when I was 8 years old,” Rai explained to Golf Monthly. “I just happened to be given these two gloves, the guy who actually makes them sent a pair over, and I got into the habit of wearing them. Then, a few weeks down the line, my dad forgot to put the two gloves in the bag so I had to play with one. It was terrible. I couldn’t play, I couldn’t feel the grip, so I’ve always stuck with the two gloves ever since.”
That’s more than 20 years of playing the same gloves. Talk about dedication.
Rai takes his gloves off for putting. He also typically takes one glove off for bunker shots.
But for the rest of his shots? He likes that extra tack and control of the club.
It eliminates issues like sweat and provides a “fuller”, more secure grip. Most people don’t do that because the feel element gets thrown off, but Rai likes the sensation of having two grips.
Don’t be surprised when everyone shows up to your local muni ready to try this one.
2. He is gaming a 7-year-old driver
In this day and age, Tour pros are constantly changing out their driver because the technology improves so much. If you see an old club in the bag, it’s usually a fairway wood or a putter.
However, Rai is an ultra-rare driver holdout. He’s still gaming the TaylorMade M6, which first arrived in 2019. Given that it was prior to the pandemic, that might as well as have been a lifetime ago.
His M6 has 9 degrees of loft and features a Aldilda Synergy Blue 70 TX shaft.
As mentioned, Rai isn’t very long off the tee and clearly isn’t chasing distance. He’s probably leaving a good chunk of yardage on the table by sticking with an older driver model.
However, he is deadly accurate. He ranks No. 4 in driver accuracy on Tour this year.
Sometimes being in play over and over again has its advantages. It’s not all about power.
3. Rai uses orange castle tees
While not as critical as his gloves or his driver, Rai’s decision to use orange castle tees is definitely an intriguing one.
These are tees that have an indentation so they can be set at the exact same height every time.
The idea is pretty simple: Rather than teeing up the ball at varying heights using a traditional tee, the castle tee ensures the height never changes.
In Rai’s mind, it’s one less variable to worry about. Repeatability.
These tees are more associated with 20-handicap weekend hackers than a major champion… but Rai just captured the PGA Championship with them, so maybe he has a point here.
Rai proves that it doesn’t matter what your game looks like
There are a lot of ways to be successful in golf.
Rai does things a little differently. He has an ancient driver, wears two rain gloves, uses castle tees and has iron covers. How many pros would be willing to do even one of these, let alone all of them?
But the golf ball doesn’t care. Rai has been willing to put in the work and do things his way.
I love this quote from Xander Schauffele talking about Rai’s work ethic.
“I feel like I’ve played a pretty good amount of time, and Aaron is always there. He’s always in the gym. He’s always on the range,” Schauffele said. “At the Scottish, I’m staying right on site there. I thought it was fun for Austin and I to go putt. Aaron is finishing up his little putting session at 9 p.m. and going to the gym at 9:45. This was three years ago. I think that’s what it’s about to be a major champion. You put the work in when nobody’s looking.”
Rai has put in the work. No matter how it looks.
Top Photo Caption: Aaron Rai holds the Wanamaker Trophy. (GETTY IMAGES/Michael Reaves)
