PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 16, 2026

Aaron Rai

Aronimink Golf Club

Flash Quotes

THE MODERATOR: Aaron Rai is with us now at the 108th PGA Championship. We'll go ahead and jump right into questions.

Q. I'm sure everyone in Wölffer Hampton and in England is watching on and people in the UK as well. What would it mean to you to snap this drought of no English player having won this tournament since 1919?

AARON RAI: It's actually the first that I heard of that statistic a few minutes ago. I didn't realize that that was the case.

Yeah, amazing, amazing to be in this position. A lot of really good golf to be here.

I also know there's such a long way to go. A lot of things can and will change tomorrow. So, yeah, amazing to be here, but trying not to get too far ahead of myself also.

Q. You're looking really comfortable out there. Is that the reality? How are you feeling inside amid all this attention on you right now?

AARON RAI: It's an extremely testing course, so I think it demands a lot of presence, a lot of patience, a lot of clarity. I'm trying my best to really stick in there and kind of take what comes.

There's always an element of nervousness, and I feel that, but I've really enjoyed it over the last couple of days, especially over the last nine holes or so today. It's a great situation to be in. It's a great golf course to challenge myself in.

Q. Why are you enjoying it so much? Most people are complaining how difficult it is and how hard the pins are and so on. Where's the enjoyment for you in that?

AARON RAI: I think at any major championship it's to be expected. Obviously the scoring here is pretty high for a PGA Championship, but I think it's really important to embrace whatever the course presents, whether that's a little bit of softness, whether it plays a little easier, or whether it's playing as hard as what it is now.

Yeah, I think you just have to really dig in and see what you can do out there.

Q. Looking ahead to tomorrow afternoon, with how bunched this leaderboard is, there's a lot of possibilities obviously in how this thing wraps up. Can you kind of preview, like when you think of 16, 17, 18, kind of how you imagine those play out? What are the biggest challenges on those holes if you're maybe looking to make up a shot or two?

AARON RAI: Yeah, I think there are so many different permutations to even get to that point, so it's probably hard to comment on what I would do in a particular situation. But I think hole 16, 17, and 18 present a lot of different challenges.

Also depending on the wind direction, they played very differently to what they did the last couple of days. A lot can change. I think 16 is a great opportunity if you get your tee shot away. 17, they can make that play however they want off the different tee boxes, also using different flags. But it's a very strong hole into 18 as well, very strong hole.

So a lot of things can change. 16 is definitely risk/reward, but 17 and 18 are two very good, strong holes.

Q. I think you've even said it yourself recently in some interviews, but it's been kind of a struggle for you this season. Did you find something at Myrtle Beach? What's been the change all of a sudden?

AARON RAI: Yeah, I think the biggest thing in the first three, four months of the season was just feeling healthy body-wise. I had a couple of injuries, which ended up withdrawing from a handful of tournaments as a result. It definitely limited the amount of practice and the amount of training.

So, yeah, Masters started to feel a lot better. Zurich Classic was probably the first event in a good three months that I felt fully healthy. Then had a great run of practice from just before the Zurich till just after, which has certainly shown last week and showing some good signs this week.

So I think just feeling, again, in a good place body-wise and being able to run through some good routines consistently has probably played the biggest factor.

Q. Would you please run through what those injuries were.

AARON RAI: First one was in January, which was low right back. And end of February was my neck, kind of left side of my neck.

Q. And do you have any vivid memories of watching the PGA Championship as a kid?

AARON RAI: My first memory of the PGA was when Tiger made that putt at Medinah, and I think he went on to win. I remember watching a lot of highlight reels of that.

Also growing up from England, I didn't watch a huge amount of the American majors at a young age. I started following golf a lot more and watching it a lot more from probably when I was around 17, 18.

Yeah, I remember Rory winning his in 2014 at Valhalla really well, and I've obviously followed it ever since.