Jon Rahm is going to be one of the favourites to win The Masters next week, with the Spaniard already proving that he has what it takes to win around Augusta National.
One of the most intriguing aspects of the majors now is seeing how PGA Tour and LIV Golf players compare, with the two tours rarely crossing over in today’s game.
Jon Rahm has definitely been a worthwhile signing for LIV Golf. The 30-year-old won the individual title in his first season in the league, and he has never finished outside the top 10 in an event since signing.
It was such a blow for the PGA Tour to lose Rahm meanwhile, at the end of the 2023 season. As well as winning The Masters earlier that year, Rahm had also previously won the US Open. And he appeared to be one of the players who could rival Scottie Scheffler in the years to come.
Jon Rahm may have taken a risk which has backfired
Few will be surprised to see Rahm in contention at Augusta National. But he certainly has something of a point to prove after such a disappointing 2024 season in the majors.
Rahm’s Masters defence saw him finish 45th, while he missed the cut at the PGA Championship. He missed the US Open due to injury, while a tied ninth finish at The Open Championship almost flattered how he had played for much of the week.
It is hard not to put Rahm’s struggles down to moving to LIV. Obviously, the events are vastly different, while he will not have played a large number of the courses on the schedule.
And speaking on Fried Egg Golf, Jaime Diaz has suggested that Rahm’s decision to sign with LIV may prove to be a gamble which does not pay off.
“These majors now are so vital to their credibility as players. It’s one of their few shots. Rahm’s a different case. I don’t think Rahm has fulfilled himself in the way he would have liked to in these intervening years since signing with LIV,” he said.
“It seems like a long time because he’s been missing. I have no doubt that he’s still got the same ability, but does he have the mental state that’s going to bring out his best, or is he going to be trying too hard, pushing and pressing because he’s got so much to prove? Will he be impatient because he’s been discouraged and angry about no merger? Who knows? He’ll never probably even be able to answer those questions unless there’s time that gives him the perspective to, but I sense it’s not optimal where he is, and I think that was the risk, and in a way the price he paid for taking the money. He may have forfeited his best years to achieve greatness, historical greatness, and now he might be impatient to try and make up for that.”
How Jon Rahm reflected on his struggles in the majors in 2024
Unsurprisingly, Rahm did not put his struggles in the majors down to his move to LIV when he was asked about that ahead of playing at Royal Troon last year.
“There’s always things you can learn from it. It’s almost a bit what I said earlier answering to a question. Perhaps I had to many thoughts on my swing, where I wasn’t just letting it go and having flow on the golf course the way I would have liked to flow and probably why I didn’t perform the way I would have liked to perform,” he said.
“Friday at Augusta as well, when you’re not feeling your best and you’re playing an absolute hurricane of a day with firm greens, I was just trying to survive and hoping to make the cut.
“Valhalla was almost the realization that I needed to make a change, where I was making good swings, and just the ball wasn’t doing what I was expecting it to do. That’s why I believe that might have been the last tournament I had my old driver shaft, and then I changed it after that, and I’ve been more comfortable ever since.
“I think that was a big change, right? Being able to swing at the driver more freely and without having to think about technique so much I think has been quite nice.”
Obviously, the world will never know what Rahm would have achieved had he never gone to LIV. He may have performed even worse in the majors in 2024 had he been playing a full PGA Tour schedule.
But this is the problem LIV is facing. Many do not like the league and do not believe that it is helping players improve. And there is evidence right now to suggest that that is generally the case.
As things stand, as Diaz suggests, it is only really performances in the majors which will silence LIV Golf’s doubters.
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