A year ago Rory McIlroy completed his own Grand Slam Career. He thus became the sixth man in history to win each of the four majors at least once. The other five are Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Given that nobody has achieved the true Grand Slam, that is, winning all four in the same year (the old -US Amateur, US Open, British Amateur and Open Championship– was achieved by Bobby Jones in 1930), for now this career version has become the highest summit a golfer can conquer.
This year at the Masters there is no player who can complete the Grand Slam Career. They could do so, for example, Scottie Scheffler and Phil Mickelson at the US Open or Jordan Spieth at the PGA Championship. Jon Rahm also has the chance to complete it this year, although he must climb a steeper mountain than the others, since he is missing two: PGA Championship and Open Championship. It’s extremely difficult, of course, but until proven otherwise he still has a chance.
Rahm has thought about it and even imagined it. “I’ve been dreaming about it since I was a child. It’s a very big thing. And very difficult, only six have achieved it. At first you don’t think it’s possible, but when you’ve already won two different majors it does start to enter your head more. That said, I wouldn’t say I’d die a happy man if I won the Grand Slam Career, rather I’d say that with what I’ve already won I could die happy,” he said.
Tee times del Masters de Augusta: Rahm, en los últimos partidos del jueves
It seems evident that that peculiar Grand Slam is not an obsession for Rahm, but he has certainly thought about it and even pictured an ideal scenario in his head. As we say, he has the PGA Championship and the Open left. “I don’t know which of the two is harder to win, what I do know is that, by preference, I’d love it to be the PGA first and then the Open. I think making a comeback on the 18th at an Open, walking up to the green with the possibility of winning the Grand Slam, is unbeatable. Winning something like that in the home of golf, where it all began, would be unique,” he said. And he added: “but listen, if it were the other way round I wouldn’t mind either, I wouldn’t turn my nose up at it. What I am clear about is that if I could only win one more Major in my entire career it would be the Open.” And he added: “Not forgetting that it wouldn’t be bad at all to win the PGA and complete the Spanish Grand Slam”. In short, it’s very hard to say whether you love Dad or Mum more.
Rahm referred to other matters during his long appearance before the media:
– The feeling of returning to the Masters as champion… “I’m not really sure why it happens, but the reality is you see it as a bit calmer, with less anxiety. Maybe it’s because you can do things others can’t, I don’t know. It’s a feeling like coming home. That’s how I see it.”
– Why it’s so hard to win the Masters twice (in this Masters there are only three players who have repeated: Scheffler, Bubba Watson and Olazábal): “I think it’s very difficult to repeat because it’s always played on the same course. That may be the reason. All players end up finding a way to play Augusta, that strategy that best suits their way of playing. I’d say that’s it. Everyone prepares better and, besides, before coming here you’ve watched it on TV for many years.”
– The next global golf icon after Tiger Woods: “Being an icon is not something you choose or something you do to be one. It’s more something that happens naturally and I think it’s for two reasons. The first is the track record and the second is charisma, your way of connecting with the public. In terms of track record I’d say Scheffler is right up there, but if you add charisma, his way of playing and connecting, I believe the player with the most icon potential right now is Rory McIlroy.”
– The most difficult and most underrated shots at Augusta: “I don’t think the wedge shot at 13 and 15 when you play it short is ever talked about enough. You’re most likely playing with a fair bit of downhill slope and into a green that isn’t always the easiest, especially the 15th. Those are shots to the short flags. Getting it on the green on Sunday as the leader becomes a difficult task. And even leaving it close to the flag is very, very hard when it’s at the back of the green. I think a lot of people have the idea that Augusta National is wide, and then you come here for the first time and start to see that, if you really have to be aggressive on some shots, it narrows a lot, like the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 7th or even the 8th — once you get near the bunker the final part of the bunker narrows, and even though they’ve widened it, it’s not exactly a walk in the park.”
– The work he has carried out on his swing over the last winter: “Simply, I didn’t feel comfortable with a certain part of the takeaway. For someone who plays a fade, when the ball starts to go out to the left, it going further left is a very bad thing. So a large part of the work has been trying to eliminate that as much as possible. We managed to lay the foundations for how I’ve played this year.”
– The absence of Tiger Woods and what it means for the players: “There are a lot of players here who have been very close to him and I haven’t had time to speak with them. Frankly, I don’t know if this will be the week to do it. They have enough with the Masters this week and with a friend who needs help, so I don’t know if it’s the right time. I haven’t spoken to anyone about it. I hope he gets the help he can get and can come back in a better situation. He is the king of comebacks. If there’s anyone with the mental strength to come back from something like that, it’s him.”
– The key to having a low under-par score at Amen Corner: “I didn’t know. I’ll start with the 12th. 12 is the easiest. Number one, be on firm ground. Number two, preferably on the green. If not, try to make an approach and a putt. I think at first, in my early years at the Masters, I tried to be more aggressive than I needed to. Now it’s about hitting the centre of the green, two-putting and moving on. On the 11th you get to the tee and hit the driver as hard as you can. I think we all have a very similar strategy. We all basically aim at the right edge of the back bunker, trying to leave it in that central third of the green on the widest side. If you miss to the right, you can always try to save par and, in the worst case, make a 5. I don’t think I’ve ever gone for a flag on the left side unless it was a year with the wind behind and you happen to have a short iron with which you can really be aggressive. And then on the 13th, being a par 5, obviously you want to start with a good tee shot. Obviously now it’s much more demanding because of the distance, to leave you the right shot to the green. What a lot of people don’t know with this new length is that, even if you hit a draw down the left, if you don’t hit it long enough, the tree branches still get in the way. So you really can’t go for it just because you’ve hit a great draw towards a green that isn’t exactly one of the widest. You try to be aggressive from the tee. If not, you can still leave yourself a wedge shot to try to make birdie. I think on the 11th and 12th we’re all trying to avoid big numbers. Birdies can come, not very often, but you simply try to play a conservative line with an aggressive swing.”
– A brilliant Ryder Cup anecdote he heard at the champions’ dinner, although some details don’t add up: “The funniest thing I could tell is that Bernhard Langer was telling a story about… I think it was him and Monty playing foursomes in the Ryder Cup at Valderrama, and they reached the 18th. I think they were one down or all square. I think it was Monty. If it wasn’t Monty, sorry. Whoever was playing with Bernhard hit it to the right, into the trees. Anyone who knows Valderrama knows those trees are no joke, and the rough was four or five inches, which made it even worse, and Bernhard was trying to get it out. Then Seve turns up, goes over there, gets out of the car and says to him: “Bernhard, have you thought about hitting a 2-iron over the trees and making a 50-yard slice to the green?” Only Seve could think of something like that. Bernhard kind of waves him off, gets it out, they then put it on the green and make par. The Americans three-putt and bogey. Then Bernhard said: “I don’t know who we were playing against, but it was fantastic.” Right in front of him were Tiger and Mark O’Meara, both saying: “It was against us.” Maybe with slightly different language. The fact that it was right in front of Tiger Woods, that he told the whole story and said “I’ve forgotten who we were playing against,” with him sitting right there, was probably one of the best golfing moments I’ve witnessed in my life. It was incredible. Being there live and experiencing it… it’s not just about the story, but about the fact that it was those guys sitting there. Who forgets playing against Tiger and beating him at 18 because they three-putted? I mean, I understand you’ve played a lot of golf, but it doesn’t seem like something you’d forget.”
The story is spectacular, but one of the protagonists has a faulty memory. It could be Jon, although it’s more likely it was Langer or Tiger. Langer and Montgomerie beat Woods and O’Meara in their foursome by 5 and 3, so they didn’t reach the 18th hole. In any case, the anecdote is entertaining and the laughter surely was worth it.
