A “miserable” birdie, Jon Rahm calls it. A hole in the 17th, in the penultimate station of the third day of the Augusta Masters. Just his only bingo of the day, but enough to make par in the round (+5 in total) and avoid his first round in the tournament without discounting at least one stroke on a hole. “I have played well and I have given myself many opportunities since tee“I have had moments of confidence,” explains the Basque, too flawed with the putt and now without options to revalidate the green jacket. Goodbye to the challenge of emulating Jack Nicklaus (1965-66), Nick Faldo (1989-90) and Tiger Woods (2001-02) as the only ones with a consecutive double at Augusta.
Rahm has not been Rahm, but he already arrived at the tournament with a different preparation than the previous year. The run up to this Masters has consisted of five tournaments of three rounds each in the Saudi League. There have been five consecutive classifications among the top 10 of the tournaments (third in Mayakoba, eighth in Las Vegas, fifth in Jeddah, eighth in Hong Kong and fourth in Miami), a consistency at the heights that was already exhibited on the American circuit and that no one equals at this start of the course at LIV. But it extends a drought of titles that has lasted since he put on the green jacket on April 9 of last year. It is more than a year without biting a drink, the longest period without celebrations since he made the leap to professional in June 2016.
Rahm was an early winner on the American circuit and debuted as champion among the best in the world on January 29, 2017 at the Farmers Insurance Open. Since then he has collected 20 professional victories between the PGA Tour and the European circuit, and never before has he gone so long without winning. His consistency in the elite has been incontestable, beyond the reach of any rival. Before this parenthesis that lasted more than a year, Rahm’s longest period without a bite was the 316 days that elapsed between his victory on June 20, 2021 at the US Open, his first major, and the victory in the Open of Mexico on May 1, 2022. Curiously, the two longest stretches without awards have come after winning a major.
The Mexican triumph not only closed the drought, but also opened a very fruitful period: seven titles in 11 months, until the summit of the Masters in 2023, with three previous celebrations at the beginning of that year in just 42 days (Sentry, American Express and Genesis). And from there, to the blackout. From greater productivity to hard braking. And with his millionaire signing for LIV in the middle.
“I have played traditional tournaments all my life, so I don’t think it will affect me to play another competition. I wish that was the cause, but it isn’t. There are no excuses,” Rahm commented this Saturday. Although the differences are evident between the two worlds. The Saudi League is made up of three-round tournaments instead of four, with the competition reduced to just over 50 players and several stars in low hours, with the possibility of competing in shorts, loud music on the field and many fewer live fans (in Jeddah, for example, the course was empty of fans). For a golfer like the Basque, who feeds on the adrenaline of competition at the highest level, they do not seem like the best ingredients to keep the fangs sharp and the game at maximum revolutions. Cases like those of Dustin Johnson (outside the cut in Augusta, like four other LIV men among the 13 who landed), Koepka and Cameron Smith, former emperors, symbolize that relaxation that comes with having guaranteed very high contracts no matter what.
Rahm himself admitted before this Masters that sometimes he has to be reminded that LIV is played in three rounds. “And I don’t even know about the music, I just go about my business,” he added this Saturday. In Augusta he failed to play four rounds in a row since November, in the DP World Tour Championship, a month before causing a great earthquake with his signing for LIV for around 500 million dollars, the big signing of the Saudi League. Nor does team golf (Legion
At 29 years old, Rahm has taken a leap into the unknown in his splendid career. While he awaits a peace agreement between the two sides that will once again bring together the best on a global circuit, the world number three launches declarations of love to the American circuit. He does not regret his escape, he assures, although he does not hide that for a born winner like him, a year without any victory seems very long.
Augusta Masters classification.
TV: This Sunday, the last day from 6:00 p.m. at Movistar Golf.
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