What Aaron Rai was seen doing at The Masters when Rory McIlroy was making the turn on Sunday

Photo by Joel Marklund/Augusta National/Getty Images

What Aaron Rai was seen doing at The Masters when Rory McIlroy was making the turn on Sunday

Originally posted on HITC | By Jordan Harris | Last updated May 20, 2026 5:00 AM ET

What has been made abundantly clear in the days following the PGA Championship is just how popular a winner Aaron Rai has proven to be.

Rai was probably not one of the favourites in the eyes of many heading into the final round at Aronimink this past week.

The Englishman had not won on the PGA Tour since 2024. Meanwhile, he had been in the field for Myrtle Beach Classic the week before the second major of the year, rather than the Truist Championship.

The lengths Aaron Rai has gone to in his bid to improve on the golf course

But Rai produced an outstanding performance in Philadelphia. He was particularly impressive on the back nine, with the 31-year-old taking complete charge of the tournament and not looking back.

He may be far from the longest hitter, but it does appear that few players put in more effort to get everything out of their game. Xander Schauffele lauded Rai’s work-rate as he closed in on victory on Sunday.

And speaking on Scorecard on CBS Sports, Patrick McDonald revealed some of the lengths he has noticed Rai go to in his attempts to improve.

“I will say I have a couple of Rai stories. I think everyone knows the iron cover story, knows that he’s a little bit I would say unorthodox where he uses an old driver from TaylorMade, he uses that plastic tee as well to make sure that his ball is always teed up at the same length,” he said.

Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images

“Last year at the US Open, I was following that group of Viktor Hovland and J.J. Spaun at Oakmont. And of course, you know the practice green was also the ninth green there, split into two, and Rai was in the corner with his dad just banging away that four-foot drill that he always does on the putting green. I kind of bookmarked that as that’s pretty interesting.

“And then this year as well, when Rory McIlroy and Cameron Young were going through from nine to 10 at Augusta National, one guy on the putting green, week already over, Aaron Rai again.

“And you just see all these stories starting to come out from Xander Schauffele at the Scottish Open, you hear Rory McIlroy and Ludvig and Jon Rahm all talk about this guy. It’s just so cool that a lifetime of work, obviously there are guys that have been there before, with the Rahms and everyone in contention, but a lifetime of work, to materialise over that two hours and to answer the bell for someone who hasn’t been there yet, I don’t think it gets cooler in golf.”

Why Aaron Rai has every reason to think he can win another major after lifting the PGA Championship

The challenge for Rai will be to contend a lot more often on the PGA Tour. The PGA Championship saw only his second top 10 of the season in the States.

The first came the previous week at Myrtle Beach.

Rai probably does not have the attributes to be a superstar who breaks out into the mainstream. He clearly does not crave the limelight in any sense.

However, he is developing into a world-class golfer. Edoardo Molinari said Rai is the only player he has seen to improve for eight years running.

There is no reason to think that he cannot improve further, particularly given his work-rate. So perhaps it would be incredibly naive to doubt his chances of winning another major in the future.

This article first appeared on HITC and was syndicated with permission.

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