Louisville (United States) (AFP) – Just because Jon Rahm has not won a title since last year’s Masters does not mean the world number five from Spain is struggling as he prepares for the PGA Championship.
Rahm, who jumped from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf last December, has not won in seven starts on the Saudi-backed series this year, but neither has he finished outside the top 10 in any of the 54-hole events.
The 29-year-old Spaniard, took his first major at the 2021 US Open at Torrey Pines and captured the green jacket last year at Augusta National for his 11th career PGA Tour crown.
Rahm shared 45th last month at the Masters, his worst finish in eight Augusta starts, but isn’t concerned about his form.
“I don’t think my game is in any sort of issues. I didn’t play good at Augusta, but so far I haven’t missed a top 10,” Rahm said. “I know it’s smaller fields, but I’ve been playing good golf.”
Rahm stands second on the LIV Golf table, his best efforts sharing third at Mayakoba and Adelaide to trail only Chile’s Joaquin Niemann in the season points race after sharing 10th earlier this month at Singapore.
“Have I played my best golf? No,” Rahm said. “But I do feel the last few weeks, especially coming off Singapore, made a couple tweaks, just very small things that have made my game be consistently much better, even when I’m home, and in general just feel a little more normal.
“I never felt like I was far off, and when I say I’m not playing my best, just hadn’t had my A game for a week yet, but I still I’ve been close to my A game and B-plus multiple times, so I’m comfortable how I’ve played this year.”
Rahm says coming into majors off a LIV schedule versus PGA Tour events isn’t a great change.
“It doesn’t really feel different,” he said. “Besides the tournaments I’ve played and the different venues and the different flow to the schedule, there really isn’t any other difference.
“It has been a little bit less golf than what I’ve been used to in the past coming to this point in the schedule, but from now on it will be very similar.”
Rahm, who notes he remains a PGA Tour member even if he’s suspended and barred from PGA Tour events, says he isn’t in on the workings of the PGA Tour merger talks with the Saudi financial backers of LIV Golf.
“I don’t feel like I’m on the ‘other side’ — I’m just not playing there,” Rahm said of the fracture in men’s elite golf. “I hope we reach a resolution that’s beneficial for everyone, but I couldn’t really tell you much about what’s happening.
“We have the opportunity to put golf on a different level of the map and make it more global than ever and I fully support that idea.”
He’s in no hurry to see a resolution even as a year approaches since the first framework agreement came out.
“They should take their time to make this work properly,” Rahm said. “I don’t know if that takes one, two, three, five, six years. I don’t feel like I’m in any rush to make something happen today.”
© 2024 AFP
