Aaron Rai’s journey from his humble upbringing in Wolverhampton to a PGA Championship winner is nothing short of a Cinderella story.
Rai didn’t have access to the best golf coaches or facilities growing up, so his father, Amrik, quit his job and devoted his time to helping his son become the best golfer he could be.
After a PGA Championship victory and a $3.69 million paycheck to boot, that bold decision has clearly paid off. Rai first got into the sport when his mother, Dalvir, bought him a set of plastic golf clubs.
He was a natural from an early age, winning his first golf tournament at just five years old. When it became clear Rai had a bright future in golf, his father quit his job so he could spend more time helping his son practice every day. Rai said he wouldn’t be where he is today without his father’s unflinching support.
“I think a lot of that was from my upbringing,” Rai told reporters after his PGA Championship triumph at Aronimink Golf Club. “My dad was with me, as I said, every day practice-wise, and he really instilled the importance of work and dedication and trying to consistently build just good, strong habits around the game.”
Aaron Rai credits his family for helping him achieve his dreams
It wasn’t just Rai’s father who sacrificed his time for the family. Rai’s mother started working multiple jobs to support Rai’s golf journey. Even his sister took up jobs as a teenager to chip in.
“My mom worked extremely hard away from golf,” Rai said. “Her jobs, she worked a couple of jobs at one time, at a point in time, and she did a lot of work around the house. My sister took a massive role as well at a young age. She had a job from the age of 14, 15. So there was a lot of consistent messaging of hard work, and that was generally the environment that was there at the house. And that was at the golf course as well.
“So I think it’s been something I’ve just grown up with, and I guess as I’ve got older, something that I’ve really valued and tried to continue to move forward with.”
Rai admired his family’s work ethic growing up, so he committed to working harder than everyone around him on his journey to the PGA Tour. To this day, Rai refuses to be outworked by his PGA Tour competitors. That drive allowed him to improve enough to take down the best golfers in the world at the PGA Championship.