Aaron Rai (born 3 March 1995) is an English professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and the European Tour. He has won one major championship, the 2026 PGA Championship.
Rai achieved a three-win promotion on the Challenge Tour in 2017 and gained his first win on the European Tour in 2018. He earned PGA Tour status through the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Finals and began to compete primarily in the United States. Rai won his first PGA Tour title in 2024 at the Wyndham Championship.
Early life Aaron Rai was born in Wolverhampton, England, on 3 March 1995. His parents, Amrik Singh and Dalvir Shukla, are of Indian descent. His father was born in England to immigrants from India, and his mother emigrated to England from Kenya as a teenager. His father worked as a community worker and was an amateur tennis player; his mother had several jobs, including as a mental-health nurse and an aerobics instructor. Rai grew up with three older siblings—two sisters and one brother— and attended Wolverhampton Grammar School for his secondary education.
Rai was introduced to golf at age four after accidentally being struck by his brother's hockey stick, prompting his mother to buy him safe plastic golf clubs as an alternative. His early childhood hobbies included a passion for Formula 1 racing, frequently wearing Ferrari apparel to junior golf competitions before fully committing to golf. He practiced his early schooling and golf game at the Three Hammers Golf Complex from age four and joined Patshull Park at age five.
Professional career Rai turned professional in 2012. In 2014 and 2015 he played on the PGA EuroPro Tour. He won the 2015 Glenfarclas Open after a playoff, finished 5th in the Order of Merit and was promoted to the Challenge Tour for 2016.
Rai was 18th in the 2016 Challenge Tour Order of Merit and just missed out on a European Tour place. His best finish was joint runner-up in the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge, a stroke behind the winner, Alexander Björk.
In 2017, Rai got three wins on the Challenge Tour. In March he won the Barclays Kenya Open by 3 strokes. His Kenya-born mother embraced him on the final green, seconds after his final stroke: Rai said that it was her first visit to Kenya since she left in 1970. He had his second win in May, the Andalucía Costa del Sol Match Play 9, defeating Irishman Gavin Moynihan 2&1 in the 9-hole final. Rai's third success came in July in the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge where he won by 5 strokes. The third win gave him an immediate entry to the European Tour. In May, at Walton Heath, he led international section qualifying for the U.S. Open but failed to make the cut in his first major.
In his first season on the European Tour Rai had four top-10 finishes and ended the 2018 season 58th in the Order of Merit. His highest finish was tied for 5thplace in the BMW International Open and he was 8th in the Nedbank Golf Challenge in November.
Rai won the 2018 Honma Hong Kong Open, the first event of the 2019 European Tour season. He led by 6strokes after three rounds but was pushed hard by Matt Fitzpatrick, who finished with a final round of 64. Rai's lead had been reduced to one shot after 16holes but Fitzpatrick bogeyed the 17th and, despite a bogey at the last hole, Rai won by one stroke.
In September 2020, Rai held the 54-hole lead at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, but was unable to convert this into a victory as John Catlin overtook him by two shots; ultimately finishing runner-up. A week later, Rai defeated Tommy Fleetwood in a playoff to win the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open, a result that lifted him into the world top100 for the first time.
In August 2021, Rai entered the Albertsons Boise Open as part of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, as a way of obtaining a PGA Tour card for the 2021–22 season. He held a one-shot lead on the final hole of the tournament, however a closing double-bogey saw him drop to a tie for second-place, one shot behind Greyson Sigg. The result was still good enough for Rai to secure his card for the following season.
Rai finished 93rd in the FedEx standings in 2022 which secured his playing rights for the following year.
In the third round of the 2023 Players Championship, Rai scored a hole-in-one on TPC Sawgrass's signature 17thisland green.
A successful 2024 season saw Rai claim his maiden victory on the PGATour at the Wyndham Championship, five other top-10 finishes as well as making 14 cuts in a row. He also qualified for the Tour Championship and was the only golfer in the 30 man field to do so without playing a single signature event.
In November 2025, Rai defeated Tommy Fleetwood in a playoff to win the title at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship. Rai made a birdie on the first extra hole to seal his win.
He won the Par3 Contest at the 2026 Masters Tournament.
On 17May 2026, Rai won the 2026 PGA Championship with a score of 271, 9shots under par. His final round of 65 included holing a 69-foot putt for a birdie on the 17thgreen at Aronimink Golf Club. Rai became the first golfer from England to win the PGA Championship since Jim Barnes in 1919. According to ESPN research, Rai was the biggest long-shot to win a major in at least the past 20 years, surpassing Phil Mickelson at the 2021 PGA Championship and Louis Oosthuizen at the 2010 Open Championship, who were both 200–1 to win.
Personal life Rai lives in Jacksonville, Florida and practices at nearby TPC at Sawgrass.
He is married to Gaurika Bishnoi, a female professional golfer from India.
Equipment Rai is noted for several unconventional equipment practices on the golf course. Unlike most golfers, who typically wear a single glove on their non-dominant hand, Rai wears two gloves, a habit he stated began at the age of eight. Rai is also the only player on tour to use iron covers, a practice he attributes to his father's emphasis on caring for equipment and appreciating its value from an early age. Rai is further noted for his use of castle tees and a seven-year-old TaylorMade M6 driver that he used to win the 2026 PGA Championship.
Professional wins (9) PGA Tour wins (2) Legend Major championships (1) Other PGA Tour (1) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin ofvictoryRunner(s)-up111 Aug 2024Wyndham Championship−18 (65-65-68-64=262)2 strokes Max Greyserman217 May 2026PGA Championship−9 (70-69-67-65=271)3 strokes Jon Rahm, Alex Smalley
European Tour wins (4) Legend Major championships (1) Playoff events (1) Rolex Series (2)Other European Tour (1) No. DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin ofvictoryRunner(s)-up125 Nov 2018(2019 season)Honma Hong Kong Open1−17 (65-61-68-69=263)1 stroke Matt Fitzpatrick24 Oct 2020Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open−11 (70-69-70-64=273)Playoff Tommy Fleetwood39 Nov 2025Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship−25 (64-66-67-66=263)Playoff Tommy Fleetwood417 May 2026PGA Championship−9 (70-69-67-65=271)3 strokes Jon Rahm, Alex Smalley 1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour
European Tour playoff record (2–0) No.YearTournamentOpponentResult12020Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open Tommy FleetwoodWon with par on first extra hole22025Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship Tommy FleetwoodWon with birdie on first extra hole
Challenge Tour wins (3) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin ofvictoryRunner-up126 Mar 2017Barclays Kenya Open−17 (67-66-69-65=267)3 strokes Adrien Saddier221 May 2017Andalucía Costa del Sol Match Play 92 and 1 Gavin Moynihan323 Jul 2017Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge−18 (66-65-69-66=266)5 strokes Morten Ørum Madsen
PGA EuroPro Tour wins (1) No. DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin ofvictoryRunner-up117 Jul 2015Glenfarclas Open−8 (64-68-70=202)Playoff Craig Hinton
Major championships
Wins (1) YearChampionship54 holesWinning scoreMarginRunners-up 2026 PGA Championship 2 shot deficit −9 (70-69-67-65=271) 3 strokes Jon Rahm, Alex Smalley
Results timeline Results not in chronological order in 2020. Tournament20172018Masters TournamentU.S. OpenCUTThe Open ChampionshipPGA Championship Tournament20192020202120222023202420252026Masters TournamentT2748PGA ChampionshipCUTT39T191U.S. OpenT19T33T11The Open ChampionshipNTT19CUTT75T34CUT
CUT = missed the halfway cut "T" = tied NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic
Summary Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts madeMasters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2PGA Championship 1 0 0 1 1 2 4 3U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 3The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 3Totals 1 0 0 1 1 5 15 11 Most consecutive cuts made – 10 (2024 PGA Championship – 2026 U.S. Open) Longest streak of top-10s – 1
Results in The Players Championship Tournament2023202420252026The Players ChampionshipT19T35T14CUT CUT = missed the halfway cut "T" = tied
Results in World Golf Championships Tournament201920202021ChampionshipT51T18Match PlayNTInvitationalT12T26ChampionsNTNT
NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic "T" = tied
Team appearances Professional Team Cup (representing Great Britain and Ireland): 2025 (winners)
See also 2017 Challenge Tour graduates 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Finals graduates List of golfers to achieve a three-win promotion from the Challenge Tour
Notes
References
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