It was twenty minutes past nine in the morning when Jon Rahm appeared at the clubhouse of the Real Club de Golf de Sotogrande. Well accompanied by his father, mother, and brother. Relaxed. Calm. Yes, the golfer from Barrika has THAT look. Full of energy. Victory in his sights. This is his third tournament in Spain in 2024, he has never played so much here as a professional, and he is determined not to let it slip away. The first, in Valderrama, was won by Sergio García. The second, in Madrid, went to Ángel Hidalgo. This one is his turn. Third time lucky. That’s what he thinks. That’s his wish. He has that look, the poker face. It would be his fourth victory on Spanish soil as a professional.
Rahm played the Open de España and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship consecutively and as soon as he finished at the Old Course on Sunday, where he finished seventh, he boarded a plane and returned home to Arizona. He spent seven days being a father, mainly taking care of Kepa and Eneko, school and nursery runs. He didn’t touch a club. Disconnection mode. On Sunday, he boarded a plane again and landed in Gibraltar. Direct flight. Yesterday he was already practising a bit in Sotogrande and today he went out to play a practice round with David Puig and Pablo Larrazábal.
Jon has that look. He wants to turn 30 in 26 days with eleven wins on the DP World Tour and 22 in his entire career. The ambition doesn’t wane. At just 17 years old, he confessed that his great goal/ambition/desire/challenge was to win 19 Majors, thus surpassing Jack Nicklaus‘s record. Now, thirteen years later and with all the experience he has accumulated, the only number that comes out of his mouth is three. It’s not that he’s content with three Majors in his career, it’s just that the next thing he wants to win is the third. How many Majors would you like to have when you retire? “Right now I say three, three is the goal because it’s the next one, and when I have three, the goal will be four, and when I reach four, it will be five… And if I end up with six, well, it won’t be bad, because very few have surpassed five, and if I end up halfway to 19, nine or ten, I would also be satisfied, and if I reach 19, well, what can I say… But if you ask me what number I have in my head right now, it’s three.”
No one can deny that it has been a challenging year for Jon. By far, the most difficult of his career. The switch from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf, tensions with other players, uncertainty, the spotlight directly on his eyes, then, when things started to fall into place over time, came Kelley’s difficult pregnancy, more worry, more tension. Now all that is behind him. He delivered a great performance at the British Open, has won two tournaments in LIV, the individual ranking of the Saudi circuit, and Alaia, his daughter, is doing perfectly. It’s as if she, whose name means joy in Basque, has brought him absolute peace.
Jon wins more and better the calmer he is, although he also needs challenges and incentives. Of course, they are not lacking this week. The most important one is related to something that happened in 2012, two years ago. “It’s a big thorn that I still have stuck and hopefully I can remove it this week,” he explains. It is, surely, the most painful defeat of his career. The Copa Sotogrande was being contested, the most important tournament Rahm had played up to that point in his career. He went out on Sunday in the leading group, started with a four-under in six holes and was five under on the 11th. “I had a four or five-shot lead with seven to go and then the problems started: out of bounds on the 13th, double bogey, birdie on the 14th, bogey on the 15th, three putts on the 17th and I missed a four or five-metre putt on the 18th to win the tournament. We went to a playoff with Robin Kind and Kristoffer Ventura and Kind won on the first. It was an experience. It helped me learn. After that, things haven’t gone too badly for me, so it surely helped.”
Jon doesn’t feel like his life has passed by in a whirlwind in recent years: two Majors, World Number One, more than twenty victories, the move to LIV, three children… “I don’t see it as a whirlwind. Maybe when I turn 30 in a few days, I will stop and see it differently, but right now I just think that I haven’t changed much in this time. I want to think that I am still the same. Honestly, the bigger change for me was moving from Bilbao to Blume, and switching from studying in Basque at the ikastola to learning in Spanish, and when I went to university in Arizona. Those changes were more abrupt than the ones I’ve had now. I’ve dreamed so many times of having what I have right now, both professionally and family-wise, that it’s as if I had always seen it this way. I’ve achieved many things I wanted to achieve, but my essence hasn’t changed.”
It’s a Jon at peace. With THAT look. Watch out.
