Newly-crowned PGA Championship winner Aaron Rai returns to competition at this week’s 50th hosting of The Memorial admitting he ‘has not felt any different as a golfer’ after his stunning victory at the Aronimink course in Philadelphia.
Golf’s newest major champion saying: “There are definitely times where it’s crossed my mind of winning a major and what that means to me and other times where I haven’t thought about it for a few hours whilst I’m practicing, and then it hits me, and it’s like, wow, that’s incredible”, said Rai.
FROM A SECOND DAY @PGAChampionship ‘HIGH’ TO FIGHTING FOR A PARKING SPOT A DAY LATER ….
As Aaron Rai reveals ahead 50th @MemorialGolf what traspired on the second & third day as golf’s newest major champ
Read: https://t.co/Nqjjnk8Xag
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However there was one ‘new champion’ moment and it being early evening of the second day as the PGA Championship victory hero.
“I went to the supermarket on, I think, Tuesday evening, and I wasn’t even in golf clothes, and it happened a couple of times, which never normally happens,” he said.
“I mean, just a couple of customers that were just doing their regular grocery shopping just came over and just congratulated on the PGA win and the performance. So, yeah, that was very unexpected.
When he did get back to his regular practice routine at the TPC Sawgrass, he said it took him longer than usual to get from the parking lot to the range because of so many people who stopped him. That, too, was different.
“And then when I got to the golf course on Wednesday, it took me awhile to get from the parking lot to the practice area,” he said smiling.
“So, yeah, that definitely felt a little bit different.“
Most meaningful, however, was when his father came to Ponte Vedra Beach from London. Rai said only when they talked about the week and what he had done did it start to sink in.
“So my dad, he’s a very proud man,” said Rai.
“He doesn’t show a huge amount of emotions. But the first evening that I saw him his hug was a little bit different. His smile was a little bit different. We sat and we spoke for probably a good couple of hours or so. And again, probably just how big of an achievement that was.
“I could probably hear it more from what I associate with how he is normally and how he was during those first couple of days. So I think, yeah, that definitely held a lot of weight for me internally.”
