M
MIND / JOURNEYS
‘I Turned Pro When I Was 17. I wasn’t ready’ I missed my first four cuts. I had a lot to learn, but I saw how accurate I was. I picked up on the little things By Aaron Rai with Keely Levins
N
o one in my family played golf. My dad, Amrik, was a tennis player and says my tennis stroke looked more like a golf swing, so he got me plastic clubs. I played my first tournament when I was four years old. The age group was 12 and under. I had many family members watching. I won the net division and finished second gross. I played in tournaments every month after that. It didn’t take long for me to know I wanted to pursue golf. We were a working-class family. funding for my golf. A man reached My mum, Dalvir, immigrated to England out asking if I’d try his gloves. They were all-weather, and I’d from Kenya with her famAARON RAI wear one on each hand. ily as a teenager. She has PGA TOUR I loved them. At practice, had many jobs, from menAGE 27 I forgot one and had to play tal-health nurse to aerobics LIVES WOLVERHAMPTON, with one glove. It was awinstructor. My dad was a ENGLAND ful. I’ve played with two for community worker who was born in England but whose family 20 years, still that same brand: Macwet. immigrated from India. My dad read ● ● ● golf books to learn about the swing. Shabir Randeree, owner of the first ●●● course I joined, became a close famHe bought me a set of Titleist 690 ily friend. He funded my golf and my MBs when I was seven, which were private high school education. Junior the top Titleist clubs at that time. I memberships were inexpensive. He practised every day, in all weather. When helped me join different courses from the clubs got muddy, my dad used a pin a young age so that I would become verto clean every groove. Then he’d put satile. He’s still my sponsor now. baby oil on the face to prevent rust. He ● ● ● bought me iron covers to protect them. I turned pro when I was 17. I talked I learned early to value what I had. to my parents and Shabir. We believed ●●● turning pro was the best way to learn, For guidance, my dad leaned on even though I probably wasn’t ready. Shaun Ball, a coach at the par-3 ● ● ● course where I practised. Ball said, It was lonely. I started on the EuroPro “Put Aaron in different situations and Tour. I missed the first four cuts. The let him figure it out.” That was empow- guys out there were longer, had more ering. When I turned 12, I started work- awareness, better strategy, smarter shot ing with Andy Proudman and Piers selection and putted better. I had a lot Ward. They still coach me. to learn, but I saw how accurate I was. ●●● I picked up on little things they did. My dad reached out to local papers I lost my card two years in a row but got to raise awareness and maybe some it back every year at Q school. 12
golfdigestme.com
august 2022
Finally, I finished in the top five and graduated to the Challenge Tour. In 2017, my mum came with me to a tournament in Kenya, her first time back since she was 14. She came onto the 18th green when I won. It was Mother’s Day in the UK. It was the most memorable moment of my career. ●●●
I moved up to the European Tour where I won the 2020 Scottish Open in a playoff with Tommy Fleetwood. In golf you lose over 95 per cent of the time. Having that small percentage where it goes the other way is invaluable. I tend not to look at leaderboards. Instead, I try to completely focus on the process at hand. ●●●
Because of my finishes in 2020, I got into the PGA Championship, two World Golf Championships and the Open Championship. I played solid, which got me into the top 200 in FedEx Cup points, which then got me into the Korn Ferry finals where I finished third and got my PGA Tour card. It took me a couple of hours to internalise what I had done. ●●●
So far as a pro I haven’t always played well, but I’ve seen enough to know I can hang around. In the final group on Sunday at the Farmers Insurance Open with Will Zalatoris and Jason Day, the crowds were big and loud. I need to keep putting myself in that position because you can’t simulate it. ●●●
A lot of the crowd didn’t know me. The fact I don’t have any social media accounts probably added to that. Social media amplifies the highs and the lows. That’s not an environment that I want to expose myself to. I don’t really see how it’s going to help my golf. ●●●
I still use iron covers. It’s the little things in life, the interactions that people have with one another, the gestures, the thoughts, the moments that reinforce character. It all adds up to build something strong. I don’t want to lose sight of what’s important. Although I have access to plenty of equipment now, it’s the message and the meaning behind those iron covers that keep me using them. PHOTOGRAPH BY JENSEN LARSON
