Jon Rahm is a self-confessed golf nerd.
Away from the course – when he’s not spending quality time with wife, Kelley, and two young sons, Kepa and Eneko – you’re likely to find the 28-year-old tumbling down a YouTube rabbit hole of golf videos on his laptop. Really? Yes, really and it’s all part of the learning curve that has helped elevate Rahm into a to-and-fro battle with American Scottie Scheffler for the World No.1 spot.
“I know the details of a lot of players’ careers,” Rahm says. “I like history in general and the history of the game and I like seeing what players have done in the past. I’m a golf junkie.
“I’m the guy who, you know, if the kids don’t wake me up, even before we had kids, I’m up at 5:30, 6:00 in the morning looking at reruns of tournaments on YouTube and videos and looking at things players have done because I like it. I love the game, and I love learning about it.
“You can always learn something watching those things and learn. I wouldn’t be able to explain it. It’s something that interests me, and I like knowing. I do have knowledge of players, too. I think I might have annoyed a few people by recalling 15 of the shots they have done in the past at tournaments … always good ones, obviously.
“I just love it. I love the game and I love learning about it.”
But not even golf’s highest ranked nerd knew he was making history when he claimed his second major and first Masters title in April.
The big Spaniard’s jaw dropped when, less than hour after donning the coveted green jacket, he learned he had achieved something that had eluded European golfing royalty including his hero Seve Ballesteros and multiple major champions like Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer and Jose Maria Olazabal. With his win at Augusta National, Rahm became the first European player ever to win a Masters and U.S Open title.
“Huh?” a shocked Rahm replied before adding: “I find it hard to believe, the first one …
“… to be the first-ever – to be the first European ever to do that, it’s hard to explain. Out of all the accomplishments and the many great players that have come before me, to be the first to do something like that, it’s a very humbling feeling.
“Thank you, by the way, because I don’t know how I would have found out.
“I still can’t believe I’m the first. I don’t know what to tell you. It is a pretty good duo of majors. The U.S Open is about as hard a test as you’re ever going to find, and, you know, I was trying to think, I was never going to win a major again unless it was at Torrey Pines. To come somewhere that – it’s not like it was that long ago, but to come somewhere where I’ve been comfortable. I kept seeing the stats, the lowest score to par out of two starts and how great I’ve done here (Augusta) in the past but never gave myself a chance to win. All I asked for was a chance, and I got it.
“To get that done, I can’t help to feel anything but thankful.”
Rahm could afford a slight stumble on the 72nd hole of the Masters. After barely making it to the fairway when his hooking tee shot rattled off trees before kicking clear, Rahm was able to get up-and-down for his par from 65 yards short of the 18th green. It was a four-shot victory for Spain’s fourth Masters champion … all on the 40th anniversary of Ballesteros’ second Masters win and the Spanish legend’s birthday.
Rahm was visibly proud to discuss his role in continuing the great Spanish presence at the Masters.
“It’s all hard to put it into words,” Rahm said. “Obviously, we all dream of things like this as players, and you try to visualise what it’s going to be like (when we win) and what it’s going to feel like.
Right: With the Masters green jacket secured, Rahm has his sights on a career grand slam. PHOTO: Getty Images.
“When I hit that third shot on the green (18th green), and I could tell it was close by the crowd’s reaction, just the wave of emotion of so many things just overtook me. Never thought I was going to cry by winning a golf tournament, but I got very close on that 18th hole.
“And a lot of it because of what it means to me, and to Spanish golf, right. It’s Spain’s 10th major, fourth player to win the Masters, fourth, and my second win, right, my second major win, right, it’s pretty incredible.
“I’ve wanted to win the Masters ever since I thought about golf and what being a champion would be.
“Obviously there’s four great tournaments we all think of and this one is one of them. Something that gave me a lot of hope was when Sergio won in 2017 … is that pretty much every great-name Spanish player has won here. There’s got to be something here about having a Spanish passport, I don’t know, there’s something about the grounds that transmits into all of us. Even that year I played good … I play good every year.”
Yes he does … and not just at Augusta. it is becoming increasingly difficult to discount him every time he’s in the field, whether it is in a major or not.
In 2018, he finished in the top-5 at the Masters and PGA Championship while also missing the cut at The Open and U.S Open. He’s missed one cut (2019 PGA) and had six top-10s and two major victories since.
In other fun facts … Rahm has played 166 official world ranking points events, as an amateur and professional, since 2014 and, incredibly, won 20 of them. His professional career win rate is hovering at 12.05 percent, which is second only to Tiger Woods (21.98 percent) and ahead of Rory McIlroy (8.35).
‘Rahmbo’ has already won four times in 2023 and with a PGA Tour scoring average of 68.57 per round, he will win more tournaments before the year is done. It’s just a matter of how many and which ones.
In terms of the majors – in an era when multiple major victories for a single player have become much harder to achieve – Rahm has banked two in less than two years and is now halfway to achieving the even rarer career Grand Slam.
Only five players – Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Gene Sarazen – have managed the feat, with McIlroy, Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth (three majors apiece) the active players currently chasing it as well.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I mean, it would be amazing. It would be great,” Rahm says.
“Not many people have been able to do it, and to be able to finish it out and close out and do a Grand Slam would be absolutely amazing.
“I would like to say that I entered the race when I won the U.S Open, but of course, you’re so far away, you don’t want to think about it, right. But as players, it’s on your mind. It’s on your mind. It’s something else that would be amazing. But it’s a long road ahead to be able to accomplish the Grand Slam.
“It’s something that two players like Phil (Mickelson) and Arnie (Palmer) weren’t able to do, it speaks a lot.”
But for now, the winner of 20 worldwide tournaments in just six years as a professional is focused on winning a second U.S Open Championship. If he’s successful, he will become the first European player since Scot Alex Smith in 1910 to win the title twice.
Rahm planned a pre-championship week reconnaissance visit to Los Angeles Country Club to get a better feel for the course, having only seen it briefly after winning the Genesis Invitational at neighbouring Riviera Country Club in February.
While he has discovered the finer details of the course in the days before the championship, Rahm says he knows exactly the kind of game he will need to win across the extensively renovated North Course.
“It’s a U.S Open. You need everything. You need to drive well, hit your irons well, chip well, and putt well and be mentally sane for four days,” Rahm says.
“You can’t hide, period. I think that your biggest asset is mental strength out here, and that’s what you need. You are going to have a lot of holes where things are going to go wrong, but I just have to know going into it and accept certain things that happen.
“Obviously, as it is with every U.S Open, par is a good score.”
Rahm worked hard on his short game prior to his win at Augusta and it came to his rescue many times during the Masters. He says it will, again, be the go-to aspect of his game at L.A Country Club.
“The golf club – not only for me, but for everybody – that can save a round no matter how bad you hit is the putter … short game in general,” he said.
“My swing coach back in Spain, Eduardo, used to say that the short game is like the hospital; when your long game is sick, the hospital usually nurses you back to health, and that’s what he used to tell me.
“I’ve taken that to heart. I would always say to every junior player I find, make sure your short game is good before you develop your long game. I think that’s very, very important, developing your feel.
“I think any club can get you in a lot of trouble, but if you overuse the driver, you can get in some issues. But, if it’s a good day, it’s (the driver) really not going to get you in trouble. Short game and putting is always going to get you out of it.”
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