Jon Rahm couldn’t watch Carlos Alcaraz‘s victory at Wimbledon because he was playing the final round of the LIV Golf Andalucía at the same time. However, it wasn’t much of a problem to know what was happening on the central court of the London club. “It was curious because the audience at Valderrama was telling me almost by the minute what was happening, set for Carlos, he’s up 3-1, he’s already won two sets, if he wins this game he gets the victory…”, Rahm amusingly comments at Royal Troon, where the Open Championship, the last chance to get the thorn out of the Majors in 2024, kicks off this Thursday.
What he did watch from minute 1 to 90, in the house he had rented in Sotogrande, was the final of the Eurocup football, Spain’s victory against England by 2-1. He had a great time. And, of course, he also witnessed first-hand Sergio García‘s triumph at the LIV. Jon is a sports lover, he watches practically everything and vibrates like the most with the victories of the Spaniards. He himself is a great champion who has given many successes, so it is interesting to know how he digests this Spanish cascade of victories. Does it somehow inspire or is this more legend than reality? By the answer, we already advance that Jon is motivated… and in what way.
“It does inspire a bit, of course, it’s like if your friends are having a good time and your parents don’t let you go. I see it a bit like that. Basically, you want to join the fun and hopefully it will happen this week, although there is still a lot and I don’t want to get ahead of myself, you have to play three very good rounds to give myself a chance on Sunday”, Jon assures in his chat with Ten Golf and Movistar Golf. Let’s say Rahm is eager to escape through the advantage and join his friends’ party.
Precisely, speaking of fun, Jon assures that one of the golf rounds where he had the most fun was the fourth at Portstewart, in Northern Ireland, when he captured the first Irish Open of his career in 2017. A links course. At first glance, it may surprise. Given the player profile that the Barrika native shows, it doesn’t seem that links are his favourite courses. He admires and respects them for the huge history they have and of course he wants to win on them, he has already done it, but he doesn’t seem like a golfer born to play on this type of courses. In a way, Jon contradicts that impression. He also includes among his favourite rounds the third of last year at Royal Liverpool (63 strokes) or the last at Royal St George’s when Collin Morikawa won.
“It’s true that these are courses where you don’t start as free, because of the wind, the dangers, how the ball rolls, it’s like you shrink a bit, but if you manage to feel good and let go it’s a lot of fun. It’s not easy to enjoy, enjoy because there’s a lot of stress, which is part of the sport, but at Portstewart I had a great time all four days”, he assures. And we add: yesterday he planned to play nine holes and ended up playing 18 because it was a spectacular day to play golf. “It’s not easy to find a link in better conditions than yesterday. You had to enjoy the walk”, he points out.
However, if he had to choose the golf round where he had the most fun, he has no doubt: “last year’s foursome with Hatton at the Ryder Cup in Italy. We were six less in 12 holes without missing a shot. I don’t think either of us has ever been seen smiling so much on a golf course”, he points out amusingly.
Jon makes the analogy of the kids who want to have fun with their friends, he also refers to those rounds where he had the most fun and, of course, he also remembers that ‘kid’ who came to play his first Open Championship in 2016, precisely at Royal Troon. “I’ve changed a lot since then. For example, I remember that I arrived and hit the driver on holes 1, 2, 3 and 4 and now I look at that kid and tell him: but what are you doing. Why. If you hit a 4 iron and then you have at most an 8 to green on many holes. I guess I came from the Uni of Arizona State and it’s the golf we were used to. You don’t need to hit so much driver and it’s clear that it didn’t go very well for me then”, he explains. He made the cut and finished in 59th place.
Jon wants to jump on the bandwagon.
