Under the blazing Abu Dhabi sun, a quiet golfer’s resilience finally found its reward. Elite names like Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Marco Penge, and others were fan favorites heading into the 2025 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. However, unlike these favorites at the very top of the Race to Dubai rankings, Aaron Rai was way down at 55. But his resilience and temperament at the event paid off, as he defeated Tommy Fleetwood in the playoff.

The DP World Tour shared the news with an Instagram post. It featured Aaron Rai walking to his father, Amrit Rai, and hugging him. The caption read, “Aaron Rai and his dad, Amrit, after winning in Abu Dhabi 🥹 #ADGolfChamps | #RolexSeries”

Although an underdog, Rai was brilliant from the very start. His initial two rounds of 66 and 64 helped him get an early lead over others. Continuing his performance on the last two rounds, he finished 25 under par. This is the lowest score on the Yas Links Golf Course. The previous best was 24 under par, scored by Martin Kaymer (2011) and Paul Waring (2024).

However, victory didn’t come easily to Aaron Rai. He did an impressive job to catch up to Tommy Fleetwood, but missed a putt on the 18th hole in the final round. This led to a tie between Fleetwood and Rai at the end of the regulation rounds, forcing a playoff.

But Aaron Rai held his nerve and beat Fleetwood in the first round of the playoff. Fleetwood finished at par on the par-5 18th hole. Rai made a birdie to seal the victory. He would have felt nostalgic, as he had similarly defeated Fleetwood in the 2020 Scottish Open playoff.

“It’s hard to sum up,” said Aaron Rai after his win. “I think you’re just so focused on playing the round and obviously just trying to stay in your zone. It’s hard to put into words at the moment how this feels or how I’m going to reflect on it.” This was Rai’s first victory in over a year. The last time he won was on the PGA Tour at the 2024 Wyndham Championship.

He won last year with rounds of 65-65-68-64 to finish at 18 under par. Rai edged past Max Greyserman, who was 2 strokes short of the champion. On the DP World Tour, this victory came after a long wait of five years. Rai won the 2020 Scottish Open before his victory at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

As the DP World Tour shared the post, the golf world and even athletes from other sports reacted strongly to the duo’s heartfelt moment.

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The golf world reacts to Aaron Rai’s and Amrit Rai’s heartfelt moment

Social media lit up after the DP World Tour’s post. It was not just fans, fellow golfers, and athletes from other sports also congratulated Aaron Rai. Former Indian swimmer Rehan Poncha didn’t use any words. However, the emojis he used did a lot of talking. He shared a simple “👏👏👏” comment.

Although Rai was born and brought up in England, his ancestors are of Indian descent. In fact, his wife’s family is also from India, and she is an accomplished golfer herself. Talking about his wife, she didn’t shy away from commenting on the moment. “Best duo 🥹♥️” she wrote.

Besides them, former English golfer Richard Mansell also had something to say about Aaron Rai and his father. “Cannot say enough good words about Aaron and his family. What a golfer ❤️,” Mansell wrote. Mansell plays on both the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. His only DP World Tour title came in 2025, when he won the Porsche Singapore Classic by beating Keita Nakajima.

Another fellow English golfer, Ryan Evans, wrote, “Arguably the nicest family out there.” Evans plays on the HotelPlanner Tour and has won the 2017 Turkish Airlines Challenge.

While most people commented on Aaron Rai and his father, some also mentioned Tommy Fleetwood. Fleetwood is also known to be a ground-to-earth human being. A golf enthusiast from India wrote, “A really good man .. defeated the best man in Golf ⛳.. at times like this you just take these things as a gift from God .. two really remarkable gentlemen 🔥🔥🙌🙌” Fleetwood’s gracious smile and handshake after the playoff loss reflected exactly that spirit.