Aaron Rai, iron covers, jawns and Balboa: 50 thoughts on PGA Championship 

Our intro here pertains to Aaron Rai’s iron covers and his two gloves and his other unique characteristics, so I can understand if you want to click away, as the subject, while charming, has been talked about a bit excessively at this point. But there’s been something else going on with his quirks. I think it tells the bigger story.

It’s the thought of why he never changed. 

After all, we’re a society of mostly conformists. There’s comfort in that — and the absence of discomfort. Golf and life can be hard enough, but sticking out adds another element.

Unless, of course, you don’t give a you-know-what.  

Like Rai. And he just won a PGA Championship. 

“I think my dad played a really big role in that,” Rai said Sunday night. “For the most part, it was just the two of us who used to go onto the golf course and practice together, probably up until I was 13 or 14. So I think he was very much an advocate to really just stay in your lane, focus on the things that you can do.

“And I didn’t really mix with a lot of other junior golfers, which didn’t give me a perspective of what was normal. So I think he kind of sheltered me to be able to develop in a way that made sense for me, in a way that I guess was a little bit unique with two gloves, with iron covers, et cetera.

“I think by the time he probably allowed me to play more kind of club golf, play professional golf, I felt like I was strong enough in why I did certain things to be able to continue to move that forward. I knew the reasons why I do them. I believe in the reasons why I do them. So I had no reason to really shift from that as I got older. So, yeah, that’s probably the main reason behind it.”

That all said, I think it’s OK to emulate this thought. 

As we look back at the PGA Championship week that was at Aronimink Golf Club, let’s make that observation No. 1 then. We’ll try for 49 more, and, to help the mood, we’ll mix in some Philly music.

2. My grandpa had iron covers. Red ones even. 

3. Let’s talk more about Rai. I liked this answer when he was asked about his wife, Gaurika, who’s also a pro golfer:

“She’s been incredible. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I wouldn’t be here without her. Both as a companion, as a friend, as someone I’m sharing my life with, but also as a real support system for my game. She’s a professional golfer herself. So her mindset, her advice, her thoughts, whether it’s technique or the way I’m holding myself is absolutely invaluable. She encompasses so many different sides in her opinions.

“We even had a conversation yesterday for probably 30 minutes in the car just before we got back to the hotel, just speaking a little bit about today. Again, some of the things that she mentioned in the conversations were really with me today.

“Yeah, I really wouldn’t be here without her.”

4. What was that conversation in the car about? The Athletic’s Gabby Herzig wrote about that, and you can read her story here. 

5. Who wins in a match between husband and wife?

“We practice quite a lot together. Honestly she beats me more times than I beat her,” Rai said. “When we have putting contests, chipping contests, we do some wedge games on TrackMan, I do well to keep up with her. She really is that good.

“We play a little bit on the course, but I’ve played Sawgrass — that’s where we live — a little bit more than her, and I think that little bit of experience helps. But it’s still very close with us even on the course.”

6. How did the Rais meet? Golfweek’s Adam Schupak wrote about that, and you can read his story here. 

7. Where was Rai planning to celebrate after his win? As he said he wasn’t sure, Gaurika shouted at his press conference, “He’ll probably have Chipotle.”

“I do love Chipotle on the road,” Rai said. “So we’ll probably go to Chipotle.”

8. I also thought Rai’s story on how he played courses growing up was interesting. 

“Up until the age of around 12 years old, I used to play off basically a customized course length, which gradually got longer and longer every year from the age of kind of 7 to 12,” he said. “… I was playing off the fairways and trying to make the course short enough for me to score par or better even as an 8-, 9-, 10-year-old.

“I thought it was a great idea. My dad thought it was a great idea.”

As he aged, Rai farther and farther moved back. 

“My dad really thought that idea was great in terms of just installing the abilities and the skills to be able to score and the distance would just follow with age and with growth.”

9. Of course, if you’re going to read just one Rai story today, please make it be this one here. It’s about the time Rai and I hunted for ghosts. Seriously. 

10. You can learn a lot about a person through the thoughts of others, and I liked this one here, from pro Paul Waring. 

11. And below is a young Rai. Enjoy. 

13. So why were there so many players at or around the lead throughout the tournament? Certainly, there’s always the possibility of that happening — who’s to say that the best in the world can’t all go out and shoot the same score? 

But Aronimink seemed to dictate play — there weren’t many ways to approach holes, other than the safe route, so most everyone did that. Find the fairway, find the safe pocket on the green, hit a couple of putts and move on. 

The question is, how much of that is the course’s fault, and how much of that is the players’?  

14. Let’s talk more about Aronimink — and two of the big questions of the week: Was it a good course for the PGA? And was it set up properly?

Hmm, how much time do you have?

But maybe the answer is easier than you think, if you ask yourself this:

Did you like watching? 

I think that’s mostly what matters in this. Golf is entertainment.  

15. I did laugh when I heard Brandel Chamblee say on Golf Channel’s “Live From” show that a course manager knows they’ve set up a course right when the players start to [expletive]. 

16. Here are a couple player thoughts on Aronimink and the setup that I thought were interesting:

Said Rory McIlroy on Saturday: “Look, when you have a set of greens like this, you can start to frustrate people pretty easily, I think. You heard it in me last night. You heard it in Scottie [Scheffler]. I saw some of his comments. Shane [Lowry]. I think there was a lot of guys that were frustrated yesterday coming off the course.

“Again, it’s frustrating to us, but at the same time, it creates a helluva entering championship. If I wasn’t playing this tournament, I’d love what’s going on this week, but watching and playing are two different things.”

17. Said Patrick Reed on Saturday: “It’s just different. I mean, I think that’s the easiest way. It’s a different challenge, and that’s the cool thing about it is it’s on its own.

“But the great thing about all the golf courses we play, no matter where it is, whatever major championship we’re playing, if you’re hitting the ball well and you’re putting well, you’re going to be able to handle anything. We’re the best players in the world, so when they throw a really hard challenge at us, that’s when the top players are going to show up.”

18. Music break! The Roots’ “The Seed (2.0)” was heavily played during ESPN’s and CBS’ coverage, so let’s use it here. It’s a favorite. 

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19. What would I, the 15-or-so handicap, shoot, with the wind, the rough and the pin locations, along with just the course itself? 

How much time do I have?

20. But man, a lot of folks were wrong about how the course would play. The predictions of low numbers had Jon Rahm feeling strange. 

“I would like to know who came up with that, by the way,” he said on Saturday. “Honestly, when I heard people talking about 20-under par, it made me question my ability to read a golf course, because I was looking at the greens and where they could put pin locations, and possible wind, I just — my mind was never — I actually got worried. I’m like if somebody shoots 20-under, the amount of records they’re going to break this week would be unheard of.

“You know why I think that can happen is also the fairways up here by the numbers are probably wide. They don’t play as wide as they really are. Holes like 7, 10, 15, with how much slope you have to the fairway, you have to hit a very accurate golf shot to be in it. Like that, you can add 2, too, 4 — maybe not on 6, but like I said, 10, 12, 15, 16, right?

“You need to hit — with the slope of the fairway and the wind going with the slope of the fairway, it plays a lot more difficult than I think a lot of people would have foreseen at first with how much they’re rolling out.”

21. Let’s talk about some players. 

In the first major since LIV Golf learned that it was losing its funding from the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, Rahm, one of LIV’s biggest stars, tied for second. I thought one of the more interesting quotes of the week came during his pre-tournament press conference, where he was asked what he learned from a strong showing at last year’s PGA. 

“It was really fun to be out there in the landscape nowadays in which as players in LIV we hear a lot of things from articles, from social media, from comments,” Rahm said. “While I understand why things are being said, it’s something you have to deal with.

“To go on that Sunday playing against Scottie, that has the lead, and to feel the support and love from the crowd is what made it really enjoyable. To realize that sometimes the truth is very different from what this makes or made up to be. When I made that birdie putt on 11 and I hit those good shots on 12 and 13 and almost made the putt on 13, the support from the crowd and the cheering from the crowd was what made it so much fun.

“It was a realization of having such support from the crowd and playing good golf that made me realize in a way how I’m truly perceived from the public, as opposed to what I read sometimes.”

22. Bryson DeChambeau, another LIV star, shot seven-over over two rounds and missed the cut, after missing the cut at the Masters. 

What are your expectations for him at the U.S. Open, where he’s won twice?

23. Cam Smith had missed four straight cuts in the majors, then tied for seventh at the PGA. He recently started working with swing coach Claude Harmon III, after moving on from Grant Field, whom Smith had been guided by since he was 9. 

“Probably one of the most difficult phone calls I’ve ever had to make,” Smith said Sunday.

“And, yeah, it’s still kind of lingering, but I feel like I’ve made the right call, and I can see it in my golf and just my strike of the ball and seeing some different shots. It’s been nice.”

24. Patrick Reed played the Masters in April, didn’t play for four weeks, then tied for 10th at the PGA. Interestingly, he’ll have the same schedule heading into the U.S. Open — no tournaments for four weeks — as he’s been mostly playing a DP World Tour schedule while serving a PGA Tour suspension due to his time with LIV Golf. 

“Yeah, this year’s a little different,” he said. “Honestly, I enjoyed my time at home. I enjoyed actually getting to grind, to prepare, and work on things and get ready for this week. … Who knows, it might be a new thing.”

25. My favorite exchange of the week? This one:

Moderator to McIlroy, after he shot a four-over 74 in the first round: “How would you describe your opening round?”

McIlroy to moderator: “Sh*t.”

26. My favorite story this week? This one, from Justin Thomas, who was asked on Sunday if there was an “art” to sitting on a clubhouse lead. 

“I don’t know if there’s an art,” he said. “I can tell you how there isn’t because it happened to me one time in Hartford, Conn., one year. It was actually the same day that [Jim] Furyk shot 58, I think it was. I shot like 61 or 62, and I finished pretty similar, like the leaders were on the middle of the front nine.

“I had a buddy that was out there watching me, and we went in the clubhouse and probably had like four or five beers at lunch. Next thing you know, it’s two-and-a-half hours later, and I’m still the leader in the clubhouse. The wind picked up 15, 20 mph, and the leaders were on like 15. Jimmy [Johnson] was caddieing for me at the time. He’s at a Subway like an hour and a half away. He’s like what do we do?

“I’ve never not wanted to be in a playoff before, but I kind of didn’t want to be in a playoff then. That wouldn’t have been a good situation.”

27. It’s strange not seeing Scottie Scheffler in the top three or so, right? That’s Tiger-like.  

28. Alex Smalley will win a major. Maybe this year still. 

29. I think Xander Schauffele will win another major. Maybe this year still.

30. I think Ludvig Aberg will win multiple majors. Maybe this year still. 

31. I think Garrick Higgo will never miss another major tee time again. Notably, Golfweek’s Schupak reported here that Higgo has also parted ways with his caddie. 

32. Music break! Let’s go with “You Make My Dreams (Come True)” by Hall & Oates. 

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33. I want to see Michael Block at next year’s PGA. Golf needs personalities, and he is one.

34. Next year’s PGA is in Texas, Jordan Spieth’s home state. The grand slam happens there, right?  

35. The Spieth shot below is one of the best of the week. Maybe the best.