64 years of waiting, and Aronimink did not disappoint. Neither did Aaron Rai. He shot a final-round 65, ending a 107-year wait for an English winner. But the moment he sat down, he was barely holding it together while talking about the man who quit his job and the woman who worked double shifts to keep his golf dream alive: his parents.

“It’s probably hard for me to really express everything that I feel towards them. I think I’ll get way too emotional to speak,” he said. “Starting with my dad, he was with me every day that I went to practice from the age of 4, 5 years old. He actually quit his job and started to focus on my golf from a really young age.” The 31-year-old was equally thankful for his mom. “My mom has been absolutely incredible as well. She works extremely long hours to just provide for the house really, especially with my dad also not working as much. So she did a lot of things, and her support has been phenomenal.”

He summed it up on an emotional note, saying, “I can’t put into words how much they’ve done in terms of support, care and love. I wouldn’t be here without them at all.”

The weight behind those words becomes clear when you understand what the family was actually giving up. Amrik, a former amateur tennis player whose family hailed from India, had no background in golf whatsoever. He read books to learn the basics of the swing and coached Aaron himself.

“My dad used to pay for my equipment, he paid for my membership, paid for my entry fees. It wasn’t money that we really had, to be honest, but he’d always buy me the best clubs,” Rai has said previously.

And Rai’s habit of using iron covers stems directly from those sacrifices. His well-known routine of keeping iron covers on his clubs is a direct tribute to his father. Because his dad sacrificed so much to buy Aaron his first quality set, he made a personal vow to protect every club.

This was not the first time a tournament brought those family emotions to the surface. Back in 2017, a 22-year-old Rai won the Barclays Kenya Open on Mother’s Day in the UK. His mother, Dalvir, who had not returned to Kenya since leaving in 1970, was present at Muthaiga Golf Club. Both were in tears on the 18th green.

“She was born here and this was the first time she’s come back to Kenya in the 47 years since she left,” Rai said at the time. “I couldn’t have picked a better tournament for this to happen.”

Rai had narrowly missed a European Tour card the year before his early career win. The Kenya Open win put him at the top of the Challenge Tour. His mother was there to witness the turning point.

The golfer has always been vocal about his parents’ support; back in 2024 at the Hero World Challenge, he echoed the same sentiment.

“I think the biggest part of the journey to get to this point is family support and the people around you. They worked together amazingly as a team. It takes a lot of sacrifice to even get to this point.”

Well, he ensured he credited everyone around him, including his wife, Gaurika Bisnoi, whom he hugged and got emotional after winning.

As Rai said, “I’m not exaggerating when I say that 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.”

On Sunday at Aronimink, that support paid off in full, to the tune of a $3.69M cheque, a lifetime PGA Championship exemption, and a place in history.

And it turns out the entire tour was happy to watch the humble guy win.

‘I’m absolutely lost for words’: Aaron Rai’s peers and childhood coach react to his PGA Championship victory

Darren Prosser, who coached Aaron Rai at Wolverhampton’s 3 Hammers Golf Complex from age seven, watched every hole on Sunday with one hope. “I was hoping it was going to be the day it all came together for him,” Prosser told BBC Radio WM. “The way he handled himself down the stretch was brilliant. I’m absolutely lost for words, I’m so proud of him.”

Rai was not short of admirers inside the ropes either. Ludvig Aberg recalled that even when he was sinking the putt that sealed his first major, Rai turned to him and said, “good putt.” “He’s got a putt to win his first major and he still said that to me,” Aberg said. “If there’s one guy I’d love to lose to, it’s probably him.”

Xander Schauffele, a two-time major champion himself, traced Rai’s victory back to a putting session he witnessed three years ago at the Scottish Open. Rai was still on the greens at 9 p.m. and heading to the gym by 9:45. “To be a major champion, you put the work in when nobody’s looking,” Schauffele said.

McIlroy, despite finishing five shots back, summed up the locker room mood simply.

“You won’t find one person on property who’s not happy for him.” Matti Schmid, who finished T4, called Rai possibly the hardest-working player on tour. Rahm, who knows the iron-cover story, put it plainest: “I have heard consistently there are very few people who are nicer human beings than Aaron Rai.”