I’m always one to say that Major Championships tend to favour the usual suspects. These days it is hard to look beyond Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler because they set the standard week after week. That is why it was refreshing to see Aaron Rai win the PGA Championship. For plenty of people it came as a surprise, but I have followed Aaron’s career for a long time and I can tell you it was no fluke.
He is one of the best ball strikers in the game and has a work ethic that very few players can match. You only have to watch the way he practises to understand why he keeps improving. There is no drama with Aaron, no noise, just hours of repetition and constant attention to detail. His iron play coming down the stretch at the PGA Championship was world class, especially under that kind of pressure. Every shot looked committed. Every swing looked balanced. Yet for me, the real difference was how well he putted.
People still underestimate how important putting has become in the modern game. The margins at the top level are tiny. Nearly all these lads can hit it miles and most of them hit it very straight as well. The courses are longer, the athletes are stronger and launch monitor technology has changed how players train. What separates players now is often what happens from ten feet and in.
One of my favourite stories involving Aaron happened a few years ago at the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates. I was on the range working with Ian Poulter alongside his caddie Terry Mundy. Next to us was Aaron Rai going through his practice. Poults had no idea who he was and genuinely thought he might have been an amateur playing in the pro am.
I remember saying to him: “No, he’s a proper player. He’s here because he’s been putting results together.”
Poulter looked across and joked: “Well, if I don’t beat him this week, I’m giving the game up.”
After three rounds Aaron was five shots ahead of him and Poulter never finished above him that week. Terry and I reminded Poults about his retirement plans afterwards. To be fair to him, he found the funny side of it because he has always had a great sense of humour. Deep down though, I think that week convinced him Aaron Rai was the real deal.
That story says a lot about how quickly the professional game evolves. Players appear from nowhere because the standard is so high globally now. You cannot survive at the top level unless every part of your game is sharp.
Take Pádraig Harrington at this year’s PGA Championship. At 54 years old he still has the speed to compete with players thirty years younger than him. In fact, he now spends more time trying to slow himself down because he knows maximum speed comes with an accuracy cost. He can still swing at over 125 miles per hour when he wants to, which is incredible at his age, but experience tells him efficiency matters more than simply trying to overpower a golf course.
Then you look at someone like Brooks Koepka. Brooks is striking the ball beautifully right now, probably as well as I have ever seen him hit it, but the putter has gone cold. Suddenly people start questioning form, confidence and momentum. That is modern golf. A player can stripe it from tee to green and still finish frustrated if the putts are not dropping.
This is exactly where amateur golfers can learn something valuable. Too many club golfers spend hours smashing drivers on the range trying to gain another ten yards. Distance helps, of course it does, but it should not be the starting point.
First learn to chip and putt properly. Then learn to find fairways consistently. Once you can control the golf ball and save shots around the greens, then you can start focusing on speed and power. Most handicaps would fall dramatically just from improving from inside 100 yards.
Some people will point at Rory McIlroy and argue that his driving wins him tournaments. Yes, his length gives him a huge advantage, but his short game still has to stand up under pressure. Just look at the way he won Masters Tournament this year. He chipped brilliantly when he had to and holed the putts that mattered.
On the other side of it, look at Bryson DeChambeau. He has all the power in the world and enough speed to dismantle any golf course, but lately he has looked uncomfortable on the greens and that changes everything.
Golf has changed massively over the last decade, but one thing remains exactly the same. The old phrase still holds true.
Drive for show and putt for dough.
