Jon Rahm has revealed what he thinks a scratch golfer would be able to shoot around Valhalla ahead of the first day of the PGA Championship.
The Spaniard is looking to land his third major championship this week after previously claiming the U.S. Open and The Masters.
Rahm has enjoyed a solid start to life with LIV Golf despite suggesting the league’s 54-hole format hasn’t helped him.
2023 Masters winner Rahm currently sits second in LIV’s individual standings and is yet to finish outside the top ten. Along with Brooks Koepka and Joaquin Niemann, the 29-year-old is arguably LIV’s best shot at landing the Wanamaker Trophy in Louisville.
Jon Rahm makes ‘tough’ prediction for a scratch golfer taking on Valhalla
Ahead of Thursday’s first round, Rahm was asked what he thinks a scratch player would shoot around Valhalla after playing it on Monday and Tuesday.
Unsurprisingly, he didn’t offer the average golfer much hope.
He said: “If they’ve never seen the course before, it’s hard to say because there is a lot of length to it so that it would depend on which scratch golfer.
“Tough par threes and a couple of tough finishing par fours. From the back, today, we had a couple where if you didn’t hit it good, so 17 was an automatic bogey.”
Rahm added: “I would say a scratch golfer who doesn’t have a lot of experience; I would have a hard time seeing them breaking 80. Someone with a bit more experience could shoot something in the high 70s, but it’s a challenging course out there.
“Thick rough, and even if you’re in the fairway, you can put yourself into some difficult spots.”
80 around Valhalla is extremely generous
The average scratch golfer would take 80 every day of the week around the PGA Championship course. Valhalla’s length and thick rough mean any wayward tee shot would pretty much mean an automatic dropped shot.
Furthermore, the professional game is, quite simply, miles ahead of the amateur scene. A clever piece of research, highlighted by Golf Monthly in January, inputted Rahm’s last 20 rounds into a handicapping system; the results were remarkable.
Taking an average of Rahm’s best eight rounds, the Spaniard would have had a handicap index of +13. Essentially, he would have to give a scratch player 13 shots if they were to have a match.
If professionals are saying Valhalla is a tough test, one can only imagine what the standard club golfer would shoot in USPGA conditions.
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