RAISE A RAI SMILE
From trolley & vouchers for last tartan triumph to £900k Aaron can now..
AARON RAI won a golf trolley and some hotel vouchers the last time he triumphed in Scotland.
At the Renaissance last night he pocketed almost £900,000 while joining the elite as a Rolex Series winner.
Rai defeated fellow English ace Tommy Fleetwood in a Scottish Open play-off for the standout success of his career.
And the 25-year-old has come a long way since another playoff win in the 2015 Glenfarclas Open under the Erskine Bridge.
The then Wolverhampton kid got a trolley, vouchers, sunglasses and a yardage gadget, along with his £10,000 cheque, after the 54-hole event at Mar Hall on the PGA EuroPro Tour.
It may not sound like much compared with the value of winning a £5.4million Rolex
Series event but Rai admits the experience was priceless as far as putting himself into position to lift far bigger silverware.
He said: “I remember it a lot. I turned pro in 2012, looked at guys competing on EuroPro and wanted to compete with them.
“That was the first tournament I had a chance to win and it was a really big moment.
“On that Tour you have to finish in the top five on the money list to progress up the ladder, so a win was important.
“I won a golf trolley and a Bushnell range finder. It is different to a million pounds! To win a Rolex Series event is incredible but I most definitely wouldn’t be standing here if it hadn’t been for that win. The margins are so small from the satellite tours or Challenge Tour – it was incredibly important.
“I played a lot in Scotland growing up and dreamed of playing here on the European Tour. To be able to do it was incredible a couple years ago and to be able to go still further is an incredible feeling. A dream come true.”
A blistering final-day 64 set a mark of 11 under too hot for Ian Poulter and Co.
Scot Marc Warren played alongside Rai and had a crack, so did Aussie Lucas Herbert. Robert Rock messed up a chip on his 72nd hole and missed a
putt to see his bid flounder before Fleetwood flopped.
Rai was on the range staying loose in preparation for a play-off when Fleetwood nailed a lastgasp putt to set it up – only for the Ryder Cup ace to then miss a tiddler on the first extra hole.
But the winner earned his title. He dug it out, making par on 18 twice from the fairway bunker. Rai was second at the Irish Open the previous Sunday and inside the top 10 at Gullane in 2018 before winning the Hong Kong Open that year. This, though, is next level.
He said: “It was a great bunker shot [in the play-off] and great up and down. I didn’t expect Tommy to make five.
“It was a bit of a shame for it to end that way. It’s not the way anyone wants to see it and Tommy is a fantastic person. He’s a better person than he is a golfer, which says a lot. I genuinely didn’t want or expect to see that.
“I walked off the last green, looked at the leaderboard and saw Rocky and Tommy were one behind with three holes to play. I thought a play-off would be a good situation to be in as either of them could have birdied two of the last three h o l es. My mindset was, ‘Play-off ’ and to be ready for it. Mental strength is the mostimportant thing. Any point you are around the lead, you are playing good golf but so is everyone else who is in the position.”
Rai is now into the top 100 in the world and fifth in the Race to Dubai standings after a shutdown he reckons gave him a chance to “stop and reset”.
Celebrations were limited but he didn’t need a case of champagne to feel giddy with another Rolex Series event next.
He said: “I will just sleep. It’s a long journey back and we’re leaving Monday afternoon to go to Wentworth. I’ll probably play the next couple of tournaments.
“I think I’ll go to St Andrews for the Scottish Championship. I can maybe celebrate after that.
“To win any event on the European Tour is amazing.
“For it to be a Rolex Series, with the class of field that it was this week, is deeply satisfying.”