AARON RAI said he was proud of his British, Indian and Kenyan roots after winning the PGA Championship on Sunday and becoming the first Englishman in 107 years to lift the title.
The 31-year-old from Wombourne in central England captured his first major title with a final-round 65 at Aronimink to finish on nine-under 271, three shots ahead of Spain’s Jon Rahm and American Alex Smalley.
Rai, whose father is of Indian ancestry and whose mother has Kenyan heritage, spoke about the importance of all three parts of his background after completing victory with birdies on four of the last eight holes.
"I'm very proud to be from England. That's where I grew up. That's where a lot of my family still live," Rai said.
"I'm very proud of India and Kenya as well. My mom still spends a lot of time in Kenya. Both of my sets of grandparents from my mom and dad's side were from India.
"I'm very proud of representing all three really. I don't know what all that represents or how it's going to come across. All I can say is I'm very proud to be a mix of all of them."
Rai sealed victory with a 68-foot birdie putt on the par-three 17th during a tense back-nine battle.
"Very surreal," Rai said. "It has been a frustrating season so to be standing here is outside my modest imagination."
He became only the second English golfer to win the PGA Championship after Jim Barnes won the first two editions in 1916 and 1919.
"Extremely proud," Rai said. "There's a lot of incredible and historic English players over those hundred years who have gone on to achieve incredible things and had phenomenal careers.
"To be the person that's the first one to have won it in a long time from England is an amazing thing and something to be extremely proud of."
Rai took home a $3.69 million top prize from a record purse of $20.5 million after a final round in difficult conditions at Aronimink.
He answered a bogey at the eighth with a 40-foot eagle putt at the par-five ninth before adding birdies at the 11th, 13th and 16th.
His birdie putt at the 17th effectively settled the contest.
"I definitely wasn't trying to hole that putt," Rai said. "The shadow gave the putt a nice line over the last 10 feet so that helped. It was about the speed of the putt. Nice to see it go in."
Away from the course, Rai said his upbringing shaped both his personality and his golf career.
"A lot of that has come from upbringing," Rai said. "Golf was always a very big part of my life from a very young age, but my mom and my siblings were very quick to reinforce the importance of just being a good person and trying to do the right things.
"Golf in itself is an extremely humbling game. There's so much hard work and discipline that goes into acquiring the skills to become better."
He also spoke about the work ethic his parents passed on to him.
"My dad instilled the importance of work and dedication and trying to consistently build good, strong habits around the game," Rai said.
"My mom worked extremely hard away from golf. She worked a couple of jobs at one time and she did a lot of work around the house.
"There was a lot of consistent messaging of hard work. It has 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 moving forward with."
Rai credited his wife, Indian professional golfer Gaurika Bishnoi, for helping him throughout his career.
"She has been incredible," Rai said. "I wouldn't be here without her, both as a companion, as a friend, as someone I'm sharing my life with, but also as a real support system for my game.
"Her mindset, her advice, her thoughts, whether it's technique or the way I'm holding myself, is absolutely invaluable."
Asked how they would celebrate, Bishnoi said, "He'll probably have Chipotle," before Rai added, "I do love Chipotle on the road, so we'll probably go to Chipotle."
Rai also joked about their practice sessions together.
"We practice quite a lot together. Honestly, she beats me more times than I beat her."
American Xander Schauffele praised Rai after the victory.
"Rarely do you feel like people work way harder than you," Schauffele said. "Aaron is always there. He's always in the gym. He's always on the range.
"I think that's what it's about to be a major champion. You put the work in when nobody's looking."
(With inputs from agencies)
