Golf Channel journalist Ryan Lavner has made a claim ahead of the US Open that he is not sure Jon Rahm will be particularly happy about.
Heading into 2024, you would not have had many people predicting that Jon Rahm would finish 45th at The Masters as he looked to defend his title, and then follow that with a missed cut at last week’s PGA Championship.
It seemed even more unlikely after his Legion XIII team won on their LIV Golf debut at the start of the season, but Rahm has been unable to build on that initial success.
The Spaniard has not yet won individually since making the jump to LIV Golf, and he has not been a factor on Sunday at the major championships.
Jon Rahm now one to watch at US Open after missing cut
Speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, Ryan Lavner was talking about which player needed to rebound most at the US Open at Valhalla, and he picked out the 29-year-old.
“To me, the player to watch is Jon Rahm. A missed cut here at the PGA Championship on a golf course that should have been tailor-made for his skillset, certainly would have been a year ago. He could’ve been talking himself into this one all he wants, he can mention the top 10s he’d had at every single LIV event, but the facts are the facts. In the tournaments that matter most, that he is preparing for the most, that he’s gearing up for the most, he has completely fallen flat, whether that’s finishing outside the top 40 at The Masters in his title defence there, missed cut at Valhalla which was very surprising, Jon Rahm is not at his best right now, and we don’t have an answer as to why,” he said.
“Is it because of LIV’s schedule that he’s not properly prepared, is it because he’s taken his eye off the ball with all the guaranteed money, we don’t know. We’re no closer to any sort of answer, but I do think the longer this goes on, whether it’s not winning on LIV, whether it’s continuing to disappoint in the major championships, the more I think it will become a talking point, and it’s a talking point that he’s not going to be particularly fond of.”
What shocked Jon Rahm about his PGA Championship performance
Remarkably, Rahm’s finish at Augusta National this year represented the worst Masters result of his career to date.
And last week was the first time since 2019 that Rahm has missed a cut at any major championship.
Rahm shared that he was particularly surprised at how poorly he hit the ball off the tee at Valhalla as he felt that he had been in good form leading into the event.
LIV Golf does not return until the second weekend in June, one weekend before the world’s best head to Pinehurst for the US Open.
So it will be interesting to see how Rahm fares in Houston before the third major of the year, with some clearly wondering whether the move to LIV Golf has done his game no favours at all.
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