Aaron Rai won’t just be known for his on-course quirks anymore.
The 31-year-old Englishman will now be known as a PGA Championship winner after capturing his first major title Sunday at Aronimink, finishing at 9-under while besting Jon Rahm and Alex Smalley by three strokes to earn the $3.69 million first-place prize.
But for any fans who were wondering why Rai wears two gloves while golfing and why he has covers for all of his irons — both unusual — he explained it all to ESPN.
“The two gloves initially was to keep my hands warm in the winter months in England, and then it just continued to become a habit, and I’ve stuck with it ever since,” Rai said.
Regarding the iron covers, Rai said his parents “worked extremely hard” to support him, and that his dad would buy the best equipment he could for his son.
“He bought me a really nice set of irons that he paid a lot of money for,” Rai said of his dad. “After every practice session, he used to come home and he used to clean each groove with baby oil and a pin to get all the dirt and grime out. And then he started to put iron covers onto those soon after to look after them and take care of them.
“So the reason I do it now is to just remember what I came from and also to respect the things that I have.”
Rai, who previously had one PGA Tour win, entered Sunday two shots behind the 54-hole leader Smalley but shot a 5-under 65 to win.
He punctuated the victory with a stunning 68-foot curling birdie putt on No. 17.
“I definitely wasn’t trying to hole that putt,’’ Rai said. “The shadow of the pin gave a really nice line for the last 10 feet and that helped with the visual of the putt. I was just trying to put good speed on it.’’
The gloves were off for that one.
