Aaron Rai has found himself in contention several times this year, but was never able to break through for a victory. That run of close calls came to an end on Sunday as Rai, with some help from Max Greyserman, secured his first PGA Tour victory with a two-stroke victory at the Wyndham Championship. 

Rai played two brands throughout his winning bag, including a nice throwback right off the top. 

All WITB information is courtesy of GolfWRX.

Driver: TaylorMade M6 (9 degrees)

Shaft: Aldila Synergy

Rai starts his bag off with a bit of an outlier for today’s PGA Tour standards, playing the TaylorMade M6, which was released in 2019. Despite being 5 years old, Rai’s M6 was useful throughout his win. Of the M5 and M6 models, the M6 is the more forgiving option of the two. It was the 2nd generation of TaylorMade drivers to feature Twist Face technology, which corrects off-center misses through changes to the shape of the clubface, further enhancing its more forgiving nature.  Rai wasn’t the longest off the tee, finishing 63rd in driving distance for the Wyndham Championship, averaging just 287 yards off the tee. While he wasn’t long, he was deadly accurate, finding 43 of 56 fairways, which was tied for 8th best. Overall, he finished in the upper half of Strokes Gained Off the Tee, gaining 1.468 strokes on the field, which was 29th best overall.

Fairway Woods: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees, 18 degrees)

Shafts: Fujikura Ventus Blue 8 X

Moving into Rai’s long game, where he games a pair of TaylorMade fairway woods. Unlike his driver, where he goes back 5 generations for his M6, Rai plays the current generation Qi10 for both his 3-wood and 5-wood. His fairway wood game was elite, especially in the first two rounds, where 2 shots from his fairway woods setup his 2 eagles for the week on a pair of the par 5’s. In round 1, he put his 2nd shot on the par 5 15th to less than 9 feet with a fairway wood, which he would convert for eagle. Then in the 2nd round, playing the 15th again, he put his 3-wood from 240 yards out to just over 17 feet, and would once again convert that for eagle.

Hybrid: Titleist TSR2 (24 degrees)

Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White Hybrid 90 TX

The first venture away from TaylorMade for Rai comes in his hybrid, as he opts for a Titleist TSR2 24 degree hybrid. It gives him another option to play from distance, especially since he is not the longest player by any means, but gives him a higher lofted option than his fairway woods for more stopping power. Like his driver, Rai opts for the more forgiving option among the Titleist TSR series, giving him more forgiveness in exchange for a little more distance perhaps.

Irons: TaylorMade P7TW (5-9)

Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold S300

Heading into the bread and butter of Rai’s bag, his irons, where he plays TaylorMade P7TW’s for his 5-9 irons. He finished tied for 3rd in Greens In Regulation Percentage, hitting nearly 82 percent for the tournament. That performance related directly to Rai leading the tournament in Strokes Gained Approach to Green, as he gained 8.748 strokes on the field from just his approach game alone.

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (PW, GW, SW, LW)

Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S300

For his wedges, Rai plays the Vokey SM9’s for his pitching wedge, gap wedge, sand wedge and lob wedge. They all played a significant part in that Strokes Gained Approach to Green Performance. They were also solid around the green as well. He converted 10 of his 13 scramble opportunities, which was tied for 6th best in the field, and got up-and-down from the only greenside bunker opportunity he had. Overall, he finished 30th in Strokes Gained Around the Green, but with having so few opportunities due to his high GIR percentage, it was enough.

Putter: TaylorMade TP Dupage

Grip: SuperStroke Tour 1.0P

Finally, we get to Rai’s putter,  where he plays a TaylorMade TP Dupage mallet. While his approach game was the catalyst for his victory, his putter was solid. He finished tied for 15th in Putts per GIR, averaging 1.73 putts. He only made 78 feet of putts, which was 28th best, but with how good his approach game was, he didn’t have to make any more. Overall, he finished 28th in Strokes Gained Putting, gaining 2.56 strokes on the field from the putting surface.