What makes Aaron Rai such a compelling major champion

There will be some superficially minded naysayers who believe that you always need the biggest names and most bombastic personalities at the summit of leaderboards to fully capture the imagination, but the 108th PGA Championship was a different sort of blockbuster, and Aaron Rai was the fitting protagonist that the moment and this course demanded.

Reflective of the world around us, this is a polarised age for golf. We have lived through the divisiveness of LIV, the staggering absence of perspective or self-awareness, the arrogance and, frankly, stupidity displayed by many of the sport's biggest names, the depressingly unsustainable surge in prize funds, and all manner of seedy ugliness that has offered a revealing peak behind the curtain of this outwardly respectful game.

It can be hard to find unity in golf these days (are you pro or anti rollback?), but one rare instance of widespread agreement encompasses the fact that our newest major champion, Aaron Rai is one of the most widely admired players among those harshest of judges - his peers.

"You won't find one person on property who's not happy for him," commented Rory McIlroy in the aftermath of his final round as Rai's victory became inevitable.

Runner-up Jon Rahm said: "I haven't spent a lot of time with him. But I have heard consistently there's very few people that are nicer and kinder human beings than Aaron Rai."

Ludvig Aberg was playing alongside Rai and had a front-row view of his extraordinary final ten holes and the Swede was generous in his praise: "Aaron is a super, super nice guy and I couldn’t be happier for him."

Others - including two-time major winner Xander Schauffele - were quick to salute Rai's diligence and tireless work ethic, essential qualities that have taken the 31-year-old on a journey from the 3 Hammers Golf Complex in Wolverhampton to one of the highest peaks that can be ascended by any golfer.

The possible contenders on Sunday at Aronimink numbered in the dozens at one stage, such was the congested nature of a championship played on a setup that appeared to have everyone handcuffed into a state of near parity, but few had imagined that Rai would be the man to break that stalemate and surge to a stunning triumph.

Meticulous, unassuming, calm, Rai's unfailingly respectful and undemonstrative demeanour betrays the fireworks he produced when it mattered the most.

Beginning with a transformative eagle on the ninth, the Englishman completed his closing ten holes in a remarkable six-under par. As Golf Digest's Jamie Kennedy noted on social media, this included seven of eight fairways being hit, eight of ten greens in regulation, 14 putts, and +6.1 Strokes Gained. We'll never forget that 70ft putt on the 71nd hole of the week - quite the exclamation point.

This was a performance - a major clinching one at that - to rival any that you are likely to see.

Where others, including McIlroy and world number one Scottie Scheffler, had questioned the nature of the course and the placement of pins, Rai said that he "really enjoyed the course this week." If you recall the maxim of Jack Nicklaus, the greatest major champion of them all, who instantly ruled out those rivals who criticised a venue or the conditions, Rai's attitude was truly high level.

There has long been much said about Rai wearing two gloves and keeping headcovers on his irons. Some may have mocked that unique look in the past and unfairly dismissed the credentials of a golfer who had already won on both sides of the Atlantic, including the Scottish Open and Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, but this singularity makes him stand out.

"It started from the age of four years old, when my dad used to pay for my equipment," said Rai when explaining why he still uses iron covers. "He paid for my membership, paid for my entry fees. It wasn’t money that we really had, to be honest, but he’d always buy me the best clubs.

"When we used to go out and practice, he used to clean every single groove afterward with a pin and baby oil, and, to protect the golf clubs, he thought it would be good to put iron covers on them and I’ve pretty much had iron covers on all my sets ever since, just to kind of appreciate the value of what I have."

There's a thoughtfulness to Rai that others could learn from, but this is ultimately about a golfer who is comfortable within his own skin, unafraid to be an outlier and different from others. That might well be the demonstration of a quiet mental strength that helped to carry him to the Wanamaker.

At 151st in driving distance on the PGA Tour, even his attributes stand against the conventional wisdom of what is required to succeed today. 

A proud Englishman - the first to lift this title since 1919 - who takes deep pride in his Indian and Kenyan heritage, Rai is also quick to describe the importance in his journey of his parents and siblings, who all supported him from the beginning, making sacrifices and instilling the ethos of hard work, the guidance of coaches Andy Proudman and Piers Ward, and his wife, Gaurika Bishnoi, a professional golfer in her own right, who Rai eulogised for "her mindset, her advice, her thoughts, whether it's technique or the way I'm holding myself is absolutely invaluable."

Aaron Rai might not be the most obviously fashionable of major winners, but for an antidote to this era of shallowness, he's the champion of a different sort that we need at a time when the sport at the highest level has been searching for its soul, hoping to regain its consciousnesses.

This is what the man himself said: "Golf is an amazing game. It teaches you so many things, and it teaches you so much humility and discipline and absolute hard work because nothing is ever given in this game no matter what level you're playing, no matter what course you're playing on."

Nothing was given to Aaron Rai, it was hard-earned from the beginning right to those closing holes in Pennsylvania, which is testament to the efforts of many along the way, but it's a welcome reminder that sometimes, the good guys really can win.