When Jon Rahm stepped onto Valderrama yesterday, Tuesday, at around ten in the morning, his face lit up. “It was an almost childlike feeling,” he explained today. Then, two hours later, he would go out to play nine holes with Caleb Surratt and Kieran Vincent, two companions (pupils, even) of Legion XIII, and the least of it was that he played from 10 to 18 more than decently well, or that he made a textbook birdie at 16, or that he was about to hole a chip at 18 to close the session with another birdie… “Coming to Spain, seeing this beautiful course… Yesterday I had the same feeling as a child coming for the first time,” he explains.
(At this point we open a parenthesis: let’s see, this birdie at 16, even if it was in a peaceful practice round, has its substance. This hole is one of the four that have resisted Jon in the eight competition rounds he has played at Valderrama (years 2017 and 2021, in which he missed the cut, and 2019, in which he finished second). The Barrika native, indeed, has not yet been able to birdie holes 7, 12, 15… And 16. To be more specific: his record at 16 is seven pars and one bogey, so it never hurts to indulge yourself, even if it doesn’t count).
Jon has gone out today to play again the second nine of a Valderrama that looks splendid, immaculate, fantastic. He has done it again with Vicent and Surratt and Tyrrell Hatton has joined them, the fourth horseman of the Legion XIII. It may be a coincidence or not that he repeats on the same side of the course (in fact, tomorrow he plays the first nine in the Pro-Am, so it makes sense), but these second nine are the ones that have given the Spanish player the most problems in his time on this course. Hole 12, par 3, is probably the one that intimidates him the most, if anything intimidates this guy on a golf course.
In this coming and going, going out to play, attending to the media and acting as host with his team mates, one thing has led to another and he has awakened an uncommon hunger for victory. He has not done very well in Valderrama, let’s face it, although his second place in 2019 should not be considered exactly as a bad performance. But Jon, with due precautions, has a clear and resounding goal, which is none other than to finally win at Valderrama. “Maybe it’s a cheap excuse I’m making, but the two times I did badly on this course the tournament was played in October and the time I came second it was played in July… If that’s any help,” he points out with some humour, although it is certainly an objective and real fact.
It’s not just that. He feels that his game is on point, once the annoying foot injury that forced him to withdraw in LIV Houston, to miss the US Open and to still play with some discomfort in LIV Nashville is forgotten. Until now, as he confessed today, he gives a ‘6’ to the year 2024, but does not rule out improving and “getting as close as I can to the ’10’ from here to the end, there is a lot to play”.
Now he has ahead a demanding and exciting stretch, with four consecutive weeks of competition (LIV Andalucía, British Open, LIV United Kingdom and Olympic Games), something absolutely unusual in this player, before and after his move to LIV Golf. If he had to choose, he would go for a victory at Royal Troon, no doubt, but he doesn’t close any doors. “If you only let me choose one, the Open, but why not two victories, or three…”, he concludes.
