Aaron Rai: 'Wolverhampton helped shape my game'
· Yahoo Sports
In May, Aaron Rai achieved something no Englishman had achieved in more than a century - winning the US PGA Championship.
While the 31-year-old made history in America and has lived in Jacksonville, Florida, for three years, Rai said the place that shaped his game was his home city of Wolverhampton.
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Speaking to BBC Radio WM, Rai said his earliest golfing memory was playing in his first junior tournament at the 3 Hammers Golf Complex in Wolverhampton, where he remembers telling his dad "wow, this is what you call hard" when faced with a large tree on one of the holes.
Rai's coach still refers to 3 Hammers as Rai's happy place, with the golfer saying he has many memories of playing at the course.
However, it is the array of courses in and around the city that Rai credits with his skill.
"Golf was a really big part of my life since the age of five or six, so a lot of my childhood memories revolve around the game," he told the BBC.
"Wolverhampton was and is such a great place to golf - so many different styles of courses - so the variety of golf within pretty close proximity definitely helped shape my game."
Rai also credits his high school, Wolverhampton Grammar School, as being very flexible when it came to him practicing.
"Golf was always something I wanted to make a career out of one day," he said.
However, the golfer laughed when listening to a clip of himself at the age of five, telling BBC Midlands Today he wanted to be a Formula 1 driver.
"I used to love Michael Schumacher," he said. "I probably felt that way until I was 10, I knew by that time it wasn't realistic."
Rai credits Wolverhampton Grammar School with being flexible with his golf practice [Wolverhampton Grammar School]The city is also where Rai developed his distinctive style of wearing two gloves instead of one, which originated in him trying to keep his hands warm through the English winters.
"When I went back to wearing one leather glove and the grip on my other hand wasn't very good, I ended up wearing two gloves and it became a habit, since I was about eight years old," he said.
While Rai has not returned to Wolverhampton as many times as he would have liked to since moving to the US, he hopes to return in the summer for the Scottish and British Opens.
And though his childhood football team is Manchester United, he still follows his home team of Wolves.
"They'll come back strong next year," he said.
"They've been really consistent for a long period of time, I know it's changed this season but they've built a really strong foundation."
Rai's wife, Gaurika Bishnoi Rai, is also a professional golfer [Getty Images]Speaking about his history-making win, Rai told the BBC that it did not really hit him until he went and hugged his wife afterwards.
"We probably hugged each other for maybe 30 seconds and by the end of that I started to feel quite emotional," he said.
"It's incredible to have won an event that an English player hasn't won in so long - and hopefully I can have half the career that some of those other English players have had."
Rai's wife, Gaurika Bishnoi Rai, is also a professional golfer, with the pair practicing a lot on their home course.
"It can get quite a bit competitive," he laughed.
When asked what advice he would give to children, Rai said: "I think its important to try and surround yourself with good and positive messages.
"My advice personally is to enjoy what it is you do and try and fall in love with it. Enjoy all of the little things."
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