'A humble young lad who has achieved his dream'
Aaron Rai's dream was to be as successful as he could, recall his former teachers.
Wolverhampton-born Rai is remembered by teachers at the city's grammar school [Getty Images] Staff at a school attended by champion golfer Aaron Rai described him as a "very determined and a very humble young lad" who has achieved his dream. Rai, from Wolverhampton, became the first Englishman to win the US PGA Championship in more than 100 years and the victory was his first major title of his career. Kathy Dyer, head of games at Wolverhampton Grammar School, said he was already playing golf on a daily basis when he joined the school in 2006 and would be collected by his dad after his morning lessons.
The school would do something to mark his achievement once exam season was out of the way, she added. His former school said they are "immensely proud to celebrate one of our own" [Wolverhampton Grammar School] Dyer said they both started at the school on the same day and he was in her first form group in year seven. She described him as "a very quiet, very determined and a very humble young lad".
"Aaron would always catch up on his work, he was always a good student and he never fell behind even though he played golf nearly every single day. " She remembered he made it into the Guinness Book of World Records at the age of 15 for putting 207 consecutive putts from 10ft away in 90 minutes. Headteacher Nic Anderson said he met Rai for the first time when the youngster was being interviewed for a school place.
"I met this little boy, aged 10, big smile on his face, clearly wanted to come to our school, really excited about his day ahead," he said. "I just remember an excitable young lad. "He had a dream, and the dream was to be as successful as he could.