Through eight holes on Sunday at the 108th PGA Championship, Aaron Rai played exactly how you would expect the No. 68 player in the world to play as he attempted to close out his first major championship win with zero top 10s at majors on the resume.

Three bogeys, two birdies, a half shot lost to the field, a drop to T8 on the leaderboard and — according to Data Golf anyway — a less than 2 percent chance of winning this loaded tournament.

Then suddenly — starting with the ninth hole where he made eagle — Rai turned in 10 of the most surreal holes that have ever been played in major championship history.

That is not hyperbole.

Rai gained six shots on the field over those final 10 holes — which is an amazing number across an entire round. He did it in 10 holes … with a major trophy on the line!

Rai didn’t seem to miss a shot and then punctuated the round of his life with a 68-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole that sent everyone else packing and slammed the door on a weird and wonderful week.

This is improbable under normal conditions.

On a Sunday in the throes of a major championship with Rory, Rahm, Ludvig and Xander coming around the final turn? It’s almost unthinkable.

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Before we get to all of that!

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OK, now onto Rai’s win.

In May 2005, Rafa Nadal won his first French Open over Mariano Puerta by the score of 6-7, 6-3, 6-1, 7-5. He was 19 years old at the time. It was the first of an eventual 14 titles at Roland Garros.

Including that particular French Open, there have been 79 grand slams played since. Four of those slams were won by men who are one-time slam winners.

Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, Wawrinka, Murray, Sinner and Alcaraz won the other 75.

That seven men would gobble up 95 percent of the most important events contested on the pro tennis circuit and only 11 men total would have won majors is astounding and has been a ton of fun to follow as a casual fan. I have enjoyed watching all seven of those guys win their 75 slams.

I am also thankful, though, that pro golf is not pro tennis.

In roughly that same timespan — starting with the second golf major of 2005 — golf has seen 49 different men’s golfers win major championships. Rory and Tiger have the most in that stretch with six. Brooks and Phil have five. Scottie has four and on down the list.

Yes, there are advantages to domination — Fed, Nadal and Djokovic are among the best players to cover in the history of tennis (or any other sport) — but there are also downsides. At some point, you lose track on the tennis side: Wait, was that Djokovic’s 17th or 19th? The Nadal titles at Roland Garros are difficult to parse out. How many times did Fed win Wimbledon?

Here’s the thing: I bet you remember at least one shot or moment from every single one of Rory’s six and Tiger’s six. Same for Brooks’ five and also Phil’s.

Golf’s major championship wins are precious because they are elusive, but they are also hopeful because they are available to players like Aaron Rai and J.J. Spaun, who can rock up to Aronimink and Oakmont in consecutive years and actually win. It makes all the other Aaron Rais and J.J. Spauns at least feel like they have a chance.

I’m not sure Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul feel the same way going into a grand slam when Sinner, Alcaraz and Djokovic are all healthy.

Aaron Rai will never win another major championship in his life. That’s not because he’s not good at golf but rather because almost everyone currently playing professional golf will never win another major championship in their lives.

That is the entire point.

What’s extra sweet about his win is that he did it right in the thick of elite major runs from two players — Scottie and Rory — who will probably go down among the 10-12 best of all time. He didn’t sneak one by when they weren’t looking. Nobody was injured. He didn’t get lucky. He simply went out and not only stared down Rahm, JT and Ludvig but also Rory and Scottie on a week when both had real chances on Sunday.

The beauty of major championship golf is that this parity — relative to other sports — makes it meaningful when J.J. Spaun and Aaron Rai win majors.

This part is obvious.

What is more intriguing (and less obvious) is that this parity — where Aaron Rai (!) can legitimately leave no doubt about who played the best at a given major championship — somehow also makes it more meaningful when superstars collect their majors as well.

Scarcity brings about reverence, and men’s major golf hits a perfect balance of superstars winning a lot but not ever winning too much.

There are statistical reasons for this.

Tiny margins have a bigger effect on tennis matches than those same small margins have across 72 holes in golf. But it is also a reminder of something we should be screaming from the rooftops: That 72 holes is the perfect number of holes for golf tournaments, and golf just sort of stumbled into that number a century or so ago.

If tournaments were more than 72 holes, superstars would probably dominate too much. If they were less than 72 holes, superstars wouldn’t win enough.

All of this brings us back to Aaron Rai.

While winning a grand slam in tennis for anyone outside of those seven guys above has felt like a miracle for the last two decades, winning a major in golf has felt at least feasible. But also you have to put in the work to capitalize on the one or two or (if you’re extremely lucky) three major opportunities that may come your way throughout a career.

Here’s two-time major champion, Xander Schauffele.

At its best, golf — even pro golf — is rooted in hopefulness. As a player, you have to hope. And then you have to be ready to answer the bell when that hope comes looking for you on a Sunday afternoon.

No matter what Aaron Rai does for the rest of his career, he can always look back on those last 10 holes at The Mink — with literally some of the best to ever do it closing in around him — and say, I did the thing. I was better than they were. I have proof that the work I put in actually mattered.

We love to talk about how it’s the hope that kills you, and this can be true. But it’s also the hope that buoys you. That serves as an incentive for you to improve. That drives every individual in the entire sport forward at this championship level.

Not that Rai needed the achievement of winning a major to prove to himself that the work he put in mattered. He seems to be of the Scheffler mold where doing the work for the sake of the work is reward enough for him.

If your thought in the aftermath of his win is, Man, this guy seems easy to root for! you are on the right track. Electric, charismatic and awe-inspiring, he is not. But esteemed for his kindness and work ethic? Yeah, by pretty much everyone.

Consider his reason for using head covers on his irons. It’s a dorky thing that’s easy to mock — as many of us have done! — but it’s also emblematic of why he’s so beloved.

If an apology has ever been less necessary, I cannot remember it.

Hope.

That’s the theme.

On a week when everyone was complaining about what you seemingly could not do (make birdies and score and hit shots close and separate from the field), Rai was a wonderful reminder of what you could.

A reminder that you can covet nice clubs as a kid and put head covers on them and become great by just working hard. And then you can keep those head covers for the sake of remembering who you are but also get good enough to beat a cavalry of players who are probably a lot better at the game than you, led by a grand slam champion.

It is good that golf offers this hope. Good for the game. Good for the Aaron Rais of the world. Even good for the Rorys and the Scotties.

Good that you can shoot the round of your life at the perfect time and play the last 10 holes in six under to put together one of the more legendary closing stretches in PGA Championship (or any other championship) history. Good that you can just go out and .. do things.

Few sports are more hopeful than golf is.

Few stories are more hopeful than Rai’s.

Few majors in recent memory should engender more hope than this one.

Thank you for reading our algorithm-free newsletter that is often barely about golf. Major weeks are the best. We’re both cooked, and need to reintroduce ourselves to our respective families. But thank you for experiencing this PGA with and alongside us. We love trying to follow and figure out all of it together with our ridiculous little community united by a sheep/monkey-meme logo. Onto Shinnecock.