Aaron Rai’s PGA Championship Win Was No Fluke

Aaron Rai shocked the golf world at the PGA Championship, but after watching him work at Aronimink, Dan Evans says his major breakthrough made a lot more sense.

Dan Evans talks PGA Championship in a new episode. | Dan Evans

Aaron Rai was not supposed to be the story of the PGA Championship.

Then Sunday happened.

Rai arrived at Aronimink as one of many names in a crowded field. For most of the weekend, the leaderboard felt like it belonged to everybody and nobody at the same time. There were stars in position. There were surprise names hanging around. There were enough players within striking distance to make the final round feel like it could turn into complete chaos.

Then Rai took the tournament.

On this week’s episode of The Dan Evans Show, we broke down Rai’s first major championship win, a Sunday finish that started with a bunched-up leaderboard and ended with Rai holding the Wanamaker Trophy.

For most of the championship, nobody really separated. The field stayed packed together, and it felt like the kind of Sunday where one swing, one mistake or one long putt could decide everything.

Rai found the long putt.

His birdie on 17 changed the entire feel of the finish. What once looked like it could become a playoff suddenly became Rai’s moment. He did not just hang on. He kept adding to the lead until the rest of the field ran out of time.

Rai was the surprise winner of the Wanamaker Trophy at Aronimink. | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

The funny part is that Rai still gave golf fans plenty to talk about besides the win.

The two gloves. The iron covers. The full Aaron Rai experience.

For about a week, there will probably be golfers around the country wondering if double gloves and iron covers are the secret. Then most of them will remember they still hate iron covers and go right back to normal.

But beneath the easy jokes, Rai’s win did not feel like a fluke.

Earlier in the week at Aronimink, we saw him grinding short-game work as the day was ending and most of the property had already started to quiet down. He was tucked away with his team, working through bunker shots and pitch shots while the light was starting to fade.

That is the kind of detail that changes the way you look at the result.

It is easy to see an unexpected major winner and call it random. It is harder to say that when you saw the work happening before the cameras were focused on him.

Aronimink also made the win feel more legitimate.

The course was much tougher in person than it looked on television. The walk was brutal. The hills were real. The rough was nasty. It was not some casual setup where players were going to stroll around and throw darts all week.

For a PGA Championship, it felt like a serious test.

That is part of what made Rai’s Sunday so impressive. He did not just survive a weird leaderboard. He solved it.

By the end, the story was no longer about who did not win. It was not about the stars who failed to chase him down. It was about Rai stepping into a moment that changed the rest of his career.

One week, he was not even in a signature event.

The next, he was a major champion.

That is golf.

To hear the full conversation on Rai’s PGA Championship win, Aronimink’s setup, Rory McIlroy’s week, Bryson DeChambeau’s YouTube golf dilemma and more, watch the latest episode of The Dan Evans Show. And catch up on past episodes at our home on SI Golf.

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