After all the good we achieved last season, my goal for 2022 is to surpass it. My goal is always to do better each year. It won’t be easy because I’ve had a very consistent year (15 top 10s) and I got a win, but now I can say that I would gladly trade a bit of that consistency for having a few more victories. It all depends on how you evaluate it. In our sport, it’s complicated to count victories as the only successes. You can’t think that a second place is a defeat. In any case, the goal in my mind is to have a better year.
Being the Number One in the world is something you have to earn. I am the Number One because of how I have played in the past, so if I want to stay there, I have to keep playing at the highest level. After all, I can only focus on myself. I will try to improve my game and my golf level. If I can do that and play the way I know I can play, everything else should come on its own. I’m not constantly thinking about ‘Oh, he’s Number 2 or he’s coming after me or I need to do this or that’. I’m trying to play the best I can and win a tournament. I hope to have another quality year and win several times.
Starting from June 2020 we played a lot of golf and I ended up getting two victories. I played very well in the major circuits. And then, during the off-season, I changed equipment and worked harder than ever. I didn’t want changing clubs to be an excuse, so I worked a lot and ended up playing very well during the year. I was prepared for the first few months to be a bit difficult, but all the hard work I did paid off and I started from the beginning playing great golf and having opportunities to win. I had my moments with Covid, I became a father, I won the US Open, I played incredible golf and then I played a great Ryder Cup.
However, when the Ryder ended I found myself exhausted from the previous year and a half. I returned to Spain and needed a break, not only for myself, but also for my family. We endured it together and I wanted to have time to be a father and husband and be there for my wife and my son. I’m very happy to have done it because since Kepa was born, even though we had help, I hadn’t been able to contribute much because I was competing and had to sleep to be able to compete. As soon as I got home I told Kelley that I wanted to get more involved, I wanted to help and during those two months I really enjoyed having to wake up a couple of times at night and take care of my son. Being able to be there in the morning, feed him, bathe him at night and just enjoy the simple things of fatherhood, knowing that, basically, once he starts going to school I will miss fifty percent of his life. I was very eager to value and appreciate those moments. I know I won’t regret every time I decide to spend more time with my family.
During the first two weeks back home I was completely out of golf. I still went to the gym and exercised but only because it’s more of a mental thing. Then, little by little I started to play some games with my friends and finally to practice. But the first month was not very intense. Now I have a new driver and new woods. So far I’m liking it a lot. I like its appearance. The driver is matte black and I’m a big fan of matte colours. I always try to have a matte black car and it’s something I love. Also, as a Formula 1 fan, I really enjoy being able to see the carbon fibre everywhere. What I like so far is that the numbers on Trackman are consistent. My revolutions are a bit more consistent with the mistakes. Obviously, the better the mistakes can be, the better it will be for me. That’s what I’m looking forward to.
I have in my head a checklist of my swing that I can always go back to if I’m not hitting it well. I don’t need my instructor all the time because I know he’s going to tell me one of those three things. So having that safety net is very important. Golf is not a contest of strokes, it’s about making the fewest strokes possible. It doesn’t matter how it is, it’s just about competing and getting the lowest round possible.
I feel great, I’m happy and the mind and body are rested. I’m ready to go for the year.
*Jon Rahm wrote this special blog for the PGA Tour before the Sentry Tournament of Champions
