Jon Rahm has suggested that what one LIV Golf star has now done is mind-blowing following the tour’s latest event at Valderrama last week.
Of course, golf fans are this week getting their final glimpse of many of the world’s best facing off against each other this year, with The Open Championship at Royal Troon starting up on Thursday.
One player who will not be involved in South Ayrshire is Sergio Garcia, with the Spaniard failing to qualify for the event. It will be only the second time since 1999 that Garcia has not been in the field for The Open – an event he has twice finished second at.
Garcia went into the week off the back of his first LIV Golf victory, with the 44-year-old beating Anirban Lahiri in a play-off at Valderrama. His Fireballs GC side also won the team event.
Jon Rahm blown away by what Sergio Garcia has done
Garcia spoke about how hard it is to win on LIV, so perhaps it should come as no surprise that his first win came at Valderrama, with the 2017 Masters champion previously winning on three occasions at the course.
And speaking in his press conference ahead of The Open, Jon Rahm admitted that he is amazed by what Garcia has done at Valderrama during his career.
“It is just the record he has on that golf course is absolutely mind-blowing. I think it was 17 starts, 14 or 15 top 10’s and four wins. It’s hard to do anywhere, but in Valderamma that is especially difficult. It is so demanding tee to green, you have to play really well. Obviously the familiarity with it helps but it doesn’t matter. No matter how much you know the golf course you still need to play at your best to be able to do that there,” he said.
“It’s just how close he has come this year, he has played incredibly good golf. So to see him win on home soil, it felt like it was only right that on Sunday one of us Spanish players won and I feel like he was a very deserving champion. I was very happy for him because he’s been a great reference of mine when it comes to golf, we have created at great bond at Whistling Straits and to share Friday and that Sunday with him and see him win it was very special.”
The Open worse off for not having Spaniard in the field
Whatever you think of LIV, Garcia’s victory in Spain does open up the debate concerning whether the door should be open for players from that tour to qualify automatically for golf’s majors.
Of course, their critics will point out that no-one forced them to jump across – and they have certainly not suffered financially from making the move. Ultimately, many of the players would have known that joining LIV would put a big dent in how many major appearances they would make.
But Garcia remains one of the world’s best players. Certainly, he is good enough to be in the field this week at Troon. And his win proved that, particularly with how he played on Sunday.
He can have few complaints given that he failed to make it through final qualifying. But what most can surely agree on is that The Open is worse off for not having Garcia in the field this week.
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