Chris Brockman Breaks Down Aaron Rai’s Improbable PGA Championship Win

The Rich Eisen Show spent two hours Monday talking about Aaron Rodgers. Chris Brockman pointed out the actual major champion of the weekend has a similar name and significantly less coverage.

Aaron Rai is now a PGA Championship winner. Brockman broke down why the win was both improbable and deeply earned.

Brockman started with the reputation everyone in the field shared.

"Nobody has a bad thing to say about him," Brockman said. "Which is what Rory said. Everyone says he's the greatest guy. He's one of the hardest workers. He's the most quiet and humble."

The story Brockman pulled out was a Xander Schauffele one from a few years back at a major. Schauffele thought it would be fun to go out and putt late at night. Rai was already out there.

"Not grinding, not having fun with his boys, but like grinding and practicing," Brockman said. "And then went to the gym super late night. Like this is just who he is."

Rai's path to the trophy was anything but linear. The week before, Brockman said, Rai missed the cut at an elevated event. The week after that, he was in the final group of what Brockman called the scrub event for players outside the elevated rotation. Then he turned around and beat the world.

"He's winning the PGA Championship with an unbelievable 31 on the back nine, with some heavy heavy hitters, multiple major winners chasing him," Brockman said.

The defining shot of the round was a 78-and-a-half-foot putt for birdie. Brockman caught Rai's body language afterward.

"He just kind of reacted like, yeah, I meant to do that," Brockman said. "He looked shocked. Honestly, it was pure shock. It's also one of the only times you see another player who's still in the tournament go over and like fist-bump him. Like, what a putt."

Brockman defended the famous quirks. The two gloves are about comfort. The iron covers come from how Rai was raised.

"His father grinded and saved all this money to buy him his first set of really nice irons, and he wants to take care of them because that's what he does, and that's what he did growing up," Brockman said. "His story is phenomenal. I couldn't think of a better major champ than Aaron Rai."

TJ asked for the NFL equivalent. Brockman went straight to Nick Foles' 2018 Super Bowl run.

"Nick Foles was a good player long before he won that Super Bowl with the Eagles," Brockman said. "He only gets his opportunity 'cause Carson Wentz gets his knee obliterated. Then he puts together those couple of games. The best players, the Rorys, the Schefflers, the Koepkas, they're not delivering in those moments. And Aaron Rai does. To me, that was Nick Foles in that run."

TJ added the historical footnote that put the weekend in real context. Rai shot better every round of the tournament. 70, 69, 67, 65.

"That's only happened seven times in the history of major championship golf where a player shot better every single day," TJ said. "What he did is historic and he should be rightly celebrated as a major champion."

TJ's personal rooting interest stayed with Cam Smith, the relatable LIV golfer who could not find a fairway.

"He has a bad body," TJ said. "He always looks like he just rolled out of bed. The hair is everywhere. The mustache is just like, it looks like an accident. And he's never in the fairway. He's driving it into the rough, then he's hitting it into the trap, then he's getting out of the trap, and then he's having to make a putt. I'm like, this is exactly how I play."

Brockman closed on the broadcast itself. The CBS team's 10 people fighting for airtime made for some great battles. The Tony Romo-style prediction culture, where the on-course reporter tries to call every putt, has not held up.

"I'd rather know how it's sloping," Brockman said. "What is the degree? Where's the grain going?"