'A humble young lad who has achieved his dream'

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.

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. I just remember an excitable young lad," he said.

"He had a dream, and the dream was to be as successful as he could.

"I don't know whether he actually believed he'd get to where he's got to in terms of winning a major, but he certainly was determined, and he worked incredibly hard – both at school, in his academics but also on the golf course."

He said Rai decided to pursue golf at the age of 16, but also returned to complete his A Level maths to ensure he had "something to fall back on".

The school was "super proud" of him but during exam season it was difficult to get all the pupils together to celebrate – but they were planning to mark his success in school when they were able to.

"It's just wonderful news for the city," he said.

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