Focus and chill: A more relaxed approach has resulted in Rahm putting up strong results in recent months.
Aiming high: After last year’s disappointment in the majors — he failed to register a single top-10 finish — Rahm is determined to make the most of his form at major events in 2023.
Jon Rahm playing like the best golfer in the world and dressing like one of the greatest golfers of all time. The 2021 US Open champion overcame a seven-shot lead over Collin Morikawa in the final round to win the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii last weekend. And he did it in red and black in combination with Tiger Woods for Sunday chasing the title.
While the quality of Rahm’s play is no accident, his sartorial choice was in Hawaii. He forgot to take all his belts, which forced him to change wardrobe at the last minute; It gave the impression that post-victory, she spent more time talking about her approach to dress picking than her approach shots for the green.
“I usually don’t want to wear anything close to red with black on a Sunday because of Tiger. That’s his outfit,” Rahm said. “So I usually wear gray or navy. But you want to know the honest truth? I almost forgot all the belts I had to bring.
“So I had a navy belt and a black belt. and i told [wife] Kelly, “I’m not going to be hot as hell all week wearing black pants and a dark shirt, so it’s navy.” Then I went to Sunday and just didn’t want to wear navy. I forgot my belt, that’s all.
Rahm certainly delivered a performance that lived up to the famous combination, flipping the tables during a wild hour on the Plantation Course in Kapalua on Sunday while Morikawa trailed. Although it was a victory Rahm never saw coming, it was a statement victory.
hot streak
It continued his red-hot streak of form: the Spaniard now has three wins from his last five tournaments. Having also won the Spanish Open and the DP World Tour Championship, the former was hoping to climb up the world No. 1 ranking, at least overtaking Patrick Cantlay to reach fourth place. But he is still in fifth place.
After describing the revised world ranking system last year as “laughable” when it placed priority on depth-of-field rather than the rank of the players involved, Rahm, who believes he is currently “the best player in the world Hai, questioned the system again. ,
“Haven’t they changed the world ranking points [system]i would have been so close [to No. 1] Now, ”he said. “But in my mind, I feel like I’ve been the best player in the world since August. Earlier in the year, obviously Scotty [Scheffler] he was the player, then rory [McIlroy] That player was, and I think it is me now.
McIlroy remains at the top of the rankings behind Masters champion Scheffler, Open winner Cameron Smith and Cantlay. But Rahm’s performance shows he is ready to add to his trophy case — especially the big one going with his only major title, the US Open at seaside Torrey Pines two years ago.
He was most disappointed in failing to register a top 10 finish in any major in 2022. But since last August, with the start of the PGA Tour’s postseason, Rahm has played around the world nine times and finished outside the top 10 only once. , The win in Hawaii means he now has a title in each of his seven full years on tour, an outstanding record for someone who is still only 28.
fast promise
Born in the small Spanish coastal town of Barrica, Rahm showed promise so early that he attended Arizona State University on a golf scholarship and became World Amateur No. 1 in 2015. However, not everyone recognized his potential.
His future wife Kelly, who played tennis as a junior and threw the javelin at Arizona State, didn’t think Rahm was very good with the clubs. “I thought he was very low on the team, like one of the worst players,” she said. “He never talked about golf. His roommates were always talking about how he finished. I thought they were all better than him.”
By the time Kelly appeared in his first golf tournament, Rahm had already won the Ben Hogan Award as the best college player in the USA, but he didn’t know it! She arrived with the girlfriend of another Arizona State player and asked the mother of a UCLA player for directions.
“We were like, ‘We’re looking for two guys, my friend has a boyfriend and the other one, well, you might not know him, but his name is Jon Rahm,'” Kelly said. “He’s like, ‘Honey, he’s so good. He could win the tournament.'”
Rahm finished fourth that week and it didn’t take long for Kelly to discover that her eventual husband, who in 2016 became the first player to win a second Ben Hogan Award, was very good indeed. His tally of 11 college tournament wins is second only to Phil Mickelson’s 16 wins.
Rahm announced himself on the world stage in 2020, becoming the first Spaniard since Seve Ballesteros in 1989 to hold golf’s top ranking by winning the US PGA Memorial Tournament. But he is a much better player now than when he was No.1.
fix flatstick funk
There were questions about his short game, with one writer describing Rahm’s problems in March 2022 as “flatstick funk”. But Rahm has since answered those questions.
“If you look at the numbers, I think the main difference is I’ve been a little more accurate on my approach shots, but mainly making putts,” he said. “I got more comfortable with my putting. It’s almost as good as it was before.
“Sometimes when you’re working on something and it’s not working properly, I can pay too much attention to it and overthink what’s going on with the putter. I can.” [but what has worked is] Relaxing and getting out of being too technical and getting more of an art form.
Fiercely competitive and strong under pressure, Rahm has the potential to cash in the majors over the next few years, but is focused on the present. “We all want to break a lot of records, but you have to take it week by week,” he said. “What I can say is that I’m going to do my best every day of the year to be the best golfer I can be. And that’s all I can do, period.