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Aaron Rai grew up hardworking and humble in central England, family examples developing the patterns that led to his victory on Sunday at the PGA Championship. The 31-year-old became the first English golfer since Jim Barnes in 1919 to capture the PGA crown, making four birdies and an eagle in the last 10 holes to produce a four-stroke victory at Aronimink. "It definitely feels like a journey," Rai said. "So much goes into it, from being a junior golfer to developing the game to have aspirations of turning professional. Then you realize once you turn professional how good some of these guys are." Rai's father is of Indian ancestry while his mother has Kenyan heritage and growing up in England has made him a mix of all their cultures. "I'm very proud to be from England. That's where I grew up. That's where a lot of my family still live," Rai said. "I'm very proud of India and Kenya as well. My mom still spends a lot of time in Kenya. Both of my sets of grandparents from my mom and dad's side were from India. I'm very proud of representing all three really. I don't know what all that represents or how it's going to come across. All I can say is I'm very proud to be a mix of all of them." He learned about being a good man and humble from family and golf. "A lot of that has come from upbringing," Rai said. "Golf was always a very big part of my life from a very young age, but my mom and my siblings were very fast to reinforce the importance of just being a good person and trying to do the right things. Golf in itself is an extremely humbling game. There's so much hard work and discipline that goes into acquiring the skills to become better." Work ethic was instilled by family as well. "My dad instilled the importance of work and dedication and trying to consistently build just good, strong habits around the game," Rai said. "My mom worked extremely hard away from golf. She worked a couple of jobs at one time and she did a lot of work around the house. There was a lot of consistent messaging of hard work. It has been something I've just grown up with and I guess as I've got older, something that I've really valued and tried to continue to move forward with." 'Real support system'Rai's wife, Gaurika Bishnoi, is a pro golfer from India whose advice in a car ride to the hotel lingered with him on the course. "She has been incredible," Rai said. "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. Her mindset, her advice, her thoughts, whether it's technique or the way I'm holding myself, is absolutely invaluable." Asked how they will celebrate his victory, she said, "He'll probably have Chipotle," and he added, "I do love Chipotle on the road, so we'll probably go to Chipotle." And when it comes to golf bragging rights, Rai admitted, "We practice quite a lot together. Honestly she beats me more times than I beat her." Rivals saluted Rai's work ethic and character. "Rarely do you feel like people work way harder than you," said two-time major winner Xander Schauffele. "Aaron is always there. He's always in the gym. He's always on the range. I think that's what it's about to be a major champion. You puts the work in when nobody's looking." Rai relished the praise. "There are a lot of guys who work extremely hard," Rai said. "That's a prerequisite of what's just required to try and compete out here. Very reaffirming to know the things we're doing are working and leading to continued development."

Aaron Rai won his first major title on Sunday by capturing the PGA Championship, making birdies on four of the last eight holes to become the first Englishman to win the event in 107 years.Rai sealed a tense back-nine shootout with a spectacular 68-foot birdie putt on the par-three 17th, firing his career-low major round with a five-under-par 65 to finish 72 holes on nine-under 271 at formidable Aronimink."Very surreal," said Rai, who has fought a neck injury this year. "It has been a frustrating season so to be standing here is outside my modest imagination."He defeated two-time major winner Jon Rahm of Spain and American Alex Smalley by three strokes with American Justin Thomas, Germany's Matti Schmid and Sweden's Ludvig Aberg sharing fourth on 275.The 31-year-old from Wombourne in central England took home a $3.69mn top prize from a record purse of $20.5mn and the Wanamaker Trophy after a dramatic final day.Rai became only the second English player to win the PGA after Jim Barnes captured the first two titles in 1916 and 1919."Extremely proud," Rai said.  "There's a lot of incredible and historic English players over those hundred years who have gone on to achieve incredible things and had phenomenal careers. "To be the person that's the first one to have won it in a long time from England is an amazing thing and something to be extremely proud of." Never better than 19th in 12 prior major starts, Rai won his third DP World Tour title last November in Abu Dhabi and his only PGA Tour title in 2024 at Greensboro. Cautious finalePlaying cautiously in windy weather on Aronimink's sloped greens, the world's top golfers battled the course and each other in a fight that turned as Rai surged into the lead. Rai answered a bogey at eight with a 40-foot eagle putt at the par-five ninth, then sank birdie putts from four feet at 11 and seven feet at 13, becoming the week's first to reach seven-under.Schmid, seeking his first PGA Tour title in his fifth major start and first PGA Championship, sank a birdie putt from just inside nine feet at 13 to pull within one of the lead.Rai responded by reaching the green in two at the par-five 16th to set up a tap-in birdie.He then delivered a knockout blow by curling in his monster birdie putt over a ridge at 17 to reach nine-under while Schmid made bogey at 15 to leave Rai ahead by four strokes."I definitely wasn't trying to hole that putt," Rai said. "The shadow gave the putt a nice line the last 10 feet so that helped. It was about the speed of the putt. Nice to see it go in."Rahm, the 2021 US Open and 2023 Masters champion, birdied the ninth to reach five-under but made only a bogey and eight pars on the back side."I played really good golf," Rahm said."Just wish I'd have done better with the speed of the greens. Just couldn't seem to get it to the hole, and that's the reason why I didn't hole any more putts."Even so, what Aaron did today, catching him could have been very difficult. I feel like I was still close on that playing 16 until he made that long putt."World number two Rory McIlroy, who won his sixth major title at last month's Masters, shot 69 to share seventh on 276 with American Xander Schauffele and Australian Cameron Smith.Unheralded Smalley, in only his fifth major, teed off with a one-stroke lead and nine major winners among 22 players within four shots.A double bogey at the sixth and bogey at the par-three eighth plunged Smalley back until his eagle-bogey-birdie finish.American Kurt Kitayama fired a bogey-free, seven-under-par 63 to match the lowest final round in major golf history."I'm ecstatic," Kitayama said.Top-ranked defending champion Scottie Scheffler shot 69 to finish on 278.

England manager Thomas Tuchel is adamant there is "no curse" upon his side as he looks to end their near 60-year wait for a major international trophy. England's only previous major title came at the 1966 World Cup on home soil, defeating West Germany in the final.England came close several times to ending the drought under Tuchel's predecessor Gareth Southgate, losing successive European Championship finals, as well as reaching the 2018 World Cup semi-finals and the last eight in 2022. England's women have enjoyed success under Sarina Wiegman, winning back-to-back Euros titles in 2022 and 2025, while the men's Under-21 side are also double European champions after backing up their 2023 title with victory in Slovakia in June."Not at all," Tuchel said when asked if he felt extra pressure due to the women's and youth teams' successes. "If it is something, then it is a good omen and I was so happy for Sarina and (Under-21 coach) Lee (Carsley) because they made it and they made an extraordinary effort and a huge success with back-to-back victories... It is possible (to win a trophy with England), there is no curse on English teams and it is a good omen and we will do our very best to follow their example."England face Andorra today in qualifying for next year's World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, before taking on Serbia in Belgrade on Tuesday. "I get a lot of tips, that's for sure, but always in a friendly manner," former Chelsea boss Tuchel said of his interactions with England fans. "Most of them just say, 'Bring it home, Thomas'. That's basically the task."Manchester City defender John Stones has withdrawn from the squad for the upcoming games with injury. Stones has not added to his tally of 83 caps since last October. "Unfortunately, John Stones just left," Tuchel said. "He came with minor issues, muscular issues, to camp and didn't progress as we thought and hoped he would. So, he left camp this morning (Friday) because we will not take the risk. Everyone else is available."Tuchel confirmed England captain Harry Kane will lead the side in the Andorra qualifier. "Yes. He (Kane) starts. There is no balance, the competition is on and it is World Cup season," he said.England only beat Andorra, a lowly 174th in the FIFA world rankings, 1-0 when the teams met in their initial qualifier in June. "We will face in both matches a deep block and a 5-4-1 for sure in the first match and it is the challenge to overcome that quickly and aggressively and play with more rhythm than we did in the first match (against Andorra)," said Tuchel.Latvia and Albania are the other two sides in Group K of European qualifying, with the group winners booking a place at the World Cup.