Jon Rahm does many things well both on and off the golf course, but he has not yet developed the superpower of stopping time. What he has achieved, and it’s no small feat, is to slow down the pace at which things happen. Jon is not willing to let events overwhelm him in a week where it’s very easy to feel like a truck has run over you.
He is the defending champion, organises the dinner, gives a speech, attends a thousand and one commitments, launches a new sponsor and has undoubtedly become the most respected spokesperson for LIV Golf outside of LIV Golf. He has a thousand fronts open this week, but he does not move around Augusta like a headless chicken. He is not taken and brought. It’s his week and he’s willing to enjoy it, with just the right amount of stress and without tension.
This is the image that Rahm has conveyed today in Augusta. He is not a person overwhelmed by events, but in control of what is happening. He knew what he was going to be asked, he was clear that some questions would be uncomfortable, delicate and he has solved the onslaught as if he were Juan Belmonte. He came prepared.
He has once again declared his love for the PGA Tour, has claimed that in LIV Golf there is also pressure to win, has defended team golf, continues to bet on the union of the circuits, trusts that a way will be found to make room for the best of the Saudi league in the Majors and is not at all worried about not having won before the Masters. Conciliatory, relaxed and serene.
Would he like LIV Golf tournaments to be played over four days? He does not hide it. He defends the four rounds, but without animosity or extremism. He explains it. “I think there is no doubt that playing four days favours the best”. Ergo, playing three days it is more possible that the best do not arrive in time. However, he also doesn’t want it to sound like an excuse. “I am asked about the four days because I have not yet won, but I don’t think they are related things. I certainly don’t think about it when I’m competing”, he says.
Jon believes it would be good for LIV players, the best, to have a clearer gateway to the Majors, but again he defends his position without tightening the screws, without attacking anyone. “It would be good for the best players from the best circuits to have access to the Majors. It would be good for everyone. Now, how to do it, I don’t know, there are smarter people than me to solve these issues. Some places could be given to the top of the LIV ranking, although I understand that 10-15 would be too many… I don’t know how, but it would be good if it was done”, he assures.
In this sense, Rahm has acknowledged for the first time in a direct way that two of the reasons why he went to LIV were: to facilitate a faster agreement with the PGA Tour and to have secured five years of Majors with his Masters victory. “If I hadn’t won a Major in 2023 I probably wouldn’t have made the decision to go to LIV”.
Jon only shows some tension when talking about the champions’ dinner. “There’s been a lot of talk about it and I’ve seen a lot of enthusiasm. Right now I feel a lot of pressure”, he joked. What he has thought about and has more or less articulated in his head is his champion’s speech: there will be references to Seve Ballesteros (today would have been his 67th birthday), José María Olazábal (it’s 25 and 30 years since his two victories) and Phil Mickelson (it’s 20 years since his first Green Jacket).
Nor does Rahm get upset by those who doubt that his preparation for the Masters by playing in LIV Golf has not been ideal. “For me it’s the same as always. I remember that last year I won three times and nobody gave me as a favourite because a month before I hadn’t played very well. And as for not having won, I hadn’t done so in 2021 before winning the US Open, so if history repeats itself, not so bad…”.
If you were expecting a Rahm anxious, nervous or jittery in the face of the most tense week of his life, you are mistaken. He has managed, at least outwardly, which is no small feat, to maintain the same almost zen attitude that brought him so much glory last year. They are the residue, the temper and the calm that the Green Jacket exudes.
