Aaron Rai (born 3 March 1995) is an English

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who plays on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

and the

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fif ...

. He has won twice on the European Tour; the 2018

Honma Hong Kong Open The Hong Kong Open is a golf tournament which is co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the European Tour. It was founded in 1959 and in 1962 was one of the five tournaments that made up the inaugural Far East Circuit, later known as the Asia Golf ...

and the 2020

Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open The Genesis Scottish Open is a professional golf tournament in Scotland, and is one of five tournaments that are part of the Rolex Series, which identifies it as one of the European Tour's premier events. It has been played on various courses, b ...

. He is one of the few professional golfers to wear two gloves.

Professional career

Rai turned professional in 2012. In 2014 and 2015 he played on the

PGA EuroPro Tour The PGA EuroPro Tour was a men's developmental professional golf tour. It was created in 2002 by the merger of two development tours, the EuroPro Tour and the PGA MasterCard Tour, as the Professional Golfers' Association and Barry Hearn's Match ...

. He won the 2015 Glenfarclas Open after a playoff, finished 5th in the Order of Merit and was promoted to the

Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and, as with on the main European Tour and the European Senior Tour, some of the events are played outside Europe. History ...

for 2016. Rai was 18th in the 2016

Order of Merit and just missed out on a

place. His best finish was joint runner-up in the

Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge The Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge is a golf tournament on the Challenge Tour, played at the Golf PGA France du Vaudreuil in Le Vaudreuil, France. It was played for the first time in July 2013. Brinson Paolini Brinson Paolini (born January 8, 1991) ...

, a stroke behind the winner,

Alexander Björk Alexander Karl Mikael Björk (born 7 June 1990) is a Swedish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour. He won the 2018 Volvo China Open. Professional career Björk turned professional in 2009 and played on the Swedish Golf Tour and the ...

. 2017 was a successful season with Rai, with three wins on the

. In March he won the

Barclays Kenya Open The Kenya Open, titled as the Magical Kenya Open for sponsorship reasons, is a professional golf tournament in Kenya founded in 1967. History The Kenya Open was an associate event on the Far East Circuit in 1967 and 1968, after which it became ...

by 3 strokes. His Kenya-born mother embraced him on the final green, seconds after his final stroke: Rai said that it was her first visit to Kenya since she left in 1970. He had his second win in May, the

Andalucía Costa del Sol Match Play 9 The Andalucía Costa del Sol Match Play 9 is a golf tournament on the Challenge Tour, played in Spain. It is a mixed stroke-play and match-play event, broadly similar to the World Super 6 Perth, the main difference being that the match-play matches ...

, beating Irishman

Gavin Moynihan } Gavin Moynihan (born 17 September 1994) is an Irish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour. Partnered with Paul Dunne, they won the 2018 GolfSixes. Amateur career Moynihan had a successful amateur career winning the Irish Amateur Op ...

2&1 in the 9-hole final. His third success came in July in the

where he won by 5 strokes. The third win gave him an immediate entry to the

. In May, at Walton Heath, he led international section qualifying for the U.S. Open but failed to make the cut in his first major. In his first season on the

Rai had four top-10 finishes and ended the 2018 season 58th in the Order of Merit. His highest finish was tied for 5th place in the

BMW International Open The BMW International Open is an annual men's professional golf tournament on the European Tour held in Germany. History Founded in 1989, it was held near BMW's home city of Munich every year until 2012. From 1989 to 1993 and from 1997 to 2011 ...

and he was 8th in the

Nedbank Golf Challenge The Nedbank Golf Challenge, previously known as the Million Dollar Challenge, is an annual men's professional golf tournament played at the Gary Player Country Club in Sun City, North West province, South Africa. It was first played in 1981 and ...

in November. Rai won the 2018

, the first event of the

2019 European Tour The 2019 European Tour was the 48th season of golf tournaments since the European Tour officially began in 1972 and the 11th edition of the Race to Dubai. The Race to Dubai was won by Spain's Jon Rahm, who was also named Golfer of the Year. Sco ...

season. He led by 6 strokes after three rounds but was pushed hard by

Matt Fitzpatrick Matthew Thomas Fitzpatrick (born 1 September 1994) is an English professional golfer. After winning the 2013 U.S. Amateur, he later won his first professional tournament at the 2015 British Masters. In 2022 he won his first major championship a ...

, who finished with a final round 64. Rai's lead had been reduced to one shot after 16 holes but Fitzpatrick bogeyed the 17th and, despite a bogey at the last hole, Rai won by one. In September 2020, Rai held the 54-hole lead at the

Dubai Duty Free Irish Open The Irish Open (currently known as the Horizon Irish Open for sponsorship reasons) () is a professional golf tournament on the European Tour. The Irish Open was first played in 1927 and was played annually, except for the war years, until 1950. ...

, but was unable to convert this into a victory as John Catlin overtook him by two shots; ultimately finishing runner-up. A week later, Rai defeated

Tommy Fleetwood Thomas Paul Fleetwood (born 19 January 1991) is an English professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and European Tour. He has won six times on the European Tour. Background and amateur career Fleetwood was born on 19 January 1991 in Southp ...

in a playoff to win the

, a result that lifted him into the world top 100 for the first time. In August 2021, Rai entered the

Albertsons Boise Open The Albertsons Boise Open presented by Chevron is a professional golf tournament in Idaho on the Korn Ferry Tour, played annually at Hillcrest Country Club in Boise. Held in mid-September for its first 23 years, the new September playoff schedule ...

as part of the

Korn Ferry Tour Finals The Korn Ferry Tour Finals is a series of three golf tournaments that serve as a means of earning PGA Tour membership for the following season ("Tour cards"). The series, which until 2019 consisted of four tournaments, replaced the PGA Tour Qualif ...

in a way of obtaining a

card for the 2021–22 season. He held a one-shot lead on the final hole of the tournament, however a closing double-bogey saw him drop to a tie for second-place, one shot behind

Greyson Sigg Greyson is a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Greyson Chance (born 1997), American pop rock singer and pianist *Greyson Gilmer (born 1996), American professional wrestler *Greyson Gunheim (born 1986), ...

. The result was still good enough for Rai to secure his card for the following season. In the third round of the

2023 Players Championship The 2023 Players Championship was the 50th playing of the Players Championship, having been played at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida from March 9–12. The winner was Scottie Scheffler, who shot a 69 in the final round to finish ...

, Rai scored a hole-in-one on the signature 17th island green.

Professional wins (6)

European Tour wins (2)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

Asian Tour The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia except for Japan, which has its own Japan Golf Tour, which is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on the tour count for ...

European Tour playoff record (1–0)

Challenge Tour wins (3)

PGA EuroPro Tour wins (1)

Results in major championships

''Results not in chronological order in 2020.'' CUT = missed the halfway cut
NT = No tournament due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

Results in The Players Championship

"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

¹Cancelled due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

pandemic
NT = No tournament
"T" = Tied

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rai, Aaron English male golfers European Tour golfers PGA Tour golfers Sportspeople from Wolverhampton English people of Kenyan descent 1995 births Living people