{"id":687529,"date":"2026-05-22T14:59:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T14:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/687529\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T14:59:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T14:59:12","slug":"aaron-rai-i-wont-get-an-agent-or-any-treats-despite-2-7m-us-pga-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/687529\/","title":{"rendered":"Aaron Rai: I won\u2019t get an agent or any treats despite \u00a32.7m US PGA win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aaron Rai has yet to receive the Wanamaker Trophy because the enormous 29-inch ornament is damaged. Did golf\u2019s new nice guy actually indulge in some wild cup-juggling after winning the US PGA Championship? It seems highly unlikely. \u201cI\u2019m not sure what exactly happened,\u201d he says. \u201cBut there was a bit of damage towards the top that they wanted to fix before the trophy went anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four days on and, unlike the trophy-makers, Rai, 31, is adamant that he will stick to his methodology of \u201cif it ain\u2019t broke, don\u2019t fix it\u201d. He is the antithesis of the tinkermen and fame junkies and adamant that he will not change, so there will be no lavish spending after landing a cheque for $3.69million (\u00a32.74million). <\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t thought about that,\u201d the man from Wolverhampton says via Zoom from the United States. \u201cI have a really nice house in Jacksonville [Florida] that I love. I imported my car from the UK three years ago and I wouldn\u2019t change that for anything. <\/p>\n

\"AaronRai gets a pat on the back from his caddie, Jason Timmis, after the biggest win of his lifeJamie Squire\/Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing comes to mind for myself. I would like to get something for a couple of family members, but I want it to be thoughtful rather than something that is just worth X amount.\u201d<\/p>\n

His backstory has cut through the ropes into the mainstream this week. The story of him using covers for his irons, because he remembers his father cleaning club faces with a pin and baby oil, typifies a down-to-earth ethos that is not the norm in elite sport. So, too, are the two gloves he wears as a result of practising that way as a boy. In a sport where LIV Golf is trying to gain new investment after Saudi Arabia decided $6billion was the limit, here is a man who knows the true value of things.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He will be receiving plenty of offers now but will not be getting an agent, maintaining a stance that sets him apart from his peers. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was always a conscious effort, even since the early years of turning professional, to try to keep things quite simple, to try to keep things in a close circle,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd through the years, through different experiences, that\u2019s something that feels like it\u2019s continued to stay true for me.\u201d <\/p>\n

He again delved into his devoted family tree. His first call on Sunday was to his father, Amrik. He gets to about four events in the US every year but Rai says his mother, Dalvir, finds it harder to travel from the UK. <\/p>\n

\"AaronRai with Gaurika, who kept her husband grounded going into the final round at AroniminkInstagram<\/p>\n

The second call was to his coach, Piers, a friend since he was eight. His wife, Gaurika, was there with him and played a vital role in reining in spiralling thoughts on the Sunday morning at Aronimink. Intriguingly, the fears were not so much about whether he would be good enough to triumph, but how he would cope if he did.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s extremely honest with me,\u201d he says. \u201cThrough the positives that she sees, but sometimes through the areas in which maybe I\u2019m lacking. I think the deeper consistent message is just honesty through the good and through the not so good. She was really reassuring on Saturday night and even on Sunday morning, saying, \u2018You\u2019re ready\u2019 on a few occasions. That felt really powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea that a top sportsman needed reassurance of his readiness may be anathema to alpha-male tropes, but Rai elaborates. \u201cDuring previous tournament wins I felt in the aftermath it was a lot of change. On the back of a lot of really cool successes it\u2019s just felt it\u2019s more to handle,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a part of me that could only imagine some of the things that may change [after Sunday] and I didn\u2019t want that to be a limiting factor in my mind towards the tournament and what was going to be required.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are also good golf reasons to like England\u2019s first PGA Championship winner in 107 years. As well as money, the game has become obsessed with distance in recent times. The rollback of the ball remains a hot topic, but Rai is only 151st out of 161 in the PGA Tour\u2019s rankings for driving distance this season. He averages only 291 yards, which is 35 yards down on Rory McIlroy. However, he also ranks fourth in driving accuracy. His strength is hitting fairways and making greens in regulation (two strokes below par).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Five-year-oldA five-year-old Rai learns from Colin Montgomerie in April 2000 Stefan Rousseau\/Press Association<\/p>\n

He had won some big events, including the Scottish Open and the Wyndham Championship, but had an unimpressive record at the majors before last week. So what does he need to do to turn this into an enduring run of form? He says being healthy after post-viral ear, neck and nerve issues has helped. \u201cThere doesn\u2019t have to be anything big that has to change, just be a more efficient version of yourself really,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

One of the best parts of Sunday\u2019s win was the praise of his innate goodness from players such as McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele. It cuts to his philosophy of life. \u201cThe path is bigger than just the tournament wins and the successes,\u201d he says. \u201cIt is truly about the journey and hopefully just becoming better versions of yourself through the sport and away from the sport. It\u2019s not about the destination.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nicely put, but amid all this positivity is there any vice or guilty pleasure that we don\u2019t know about. He is not telling, but grins. \u201cNo one\u2019s perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aaron Rai has yet to receive the Wanamaker Trophy because the enormous 29-inch ornament is damaged. Did golf\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":687530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-687529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=687529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/687530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=687529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=687529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=687529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}