It’s no secret that Jon Rahm has played substantially less since joining LIV Golf.
Masters: Jon Rahm status for Augusta National should strike fear in players
Defending Masters champion Jon Rahm discussed how he feels after moving to LIV Golf before this year’s tournament at Augusta National.
Jack Milko has been playing golf since he was five years old. He has yet to record a hole-in-one, but he did secure an M.A. in Sports Journalism from St. Bonaventure University.
Thus far in 2024, he has teed it up 15 times on the Saudi-backed circuit and has yet to emerge as an individual winner.
Meanwhile, a season ago, Rahm arrived at Augusta National, having won three times on the PGA Tour. He also played 28 rounds.
Despite that disparity, Rahm believes that playing less is not a bad thing. In fact, he feels just the opposite.
“Based on how I feel today on a Tuesday, I feel physically better than I did last year,” Rahm said ahead of The Masters.
“But then once the competition starts, it doesn’t really matter. Once the gun goes off, whatever you feel goes out the window. You have to go out there and post a score.”
Even though he has not won in 2024, Rahm still ranks second behind Joaquin Niemann in overall strokes gained on LIV Golf. He is still an otherworldly talent and a man who can win consecutive Green Jackets this week.
Should he go on to win, he would join Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Nick Faldo as the only players to win The Masters in back-to-back years.
Last week in Miami, Rahm tied for fourth alongside Tyrrell Hatton and Marc Leishman. But his Legion XIII LIV Golf team, which he captains, triumphed in the team event.
“I would not have been thrilled by the way I finished, not that I would have been sad or upset, but I wouldn’t have been thrilled,” Rahm said.
“It’s been fun to be part of a team. It’s one of the driving factors for me to make the change. It’s fun to be a part of a family and part of a common goal as a team, right? And enjoying those team victories has been really, really fun.”
Still, Rahm admitted that he misses competing on the PGA Tour, despite playing less on LIV and feeling stronger at this point in the season.
“Not being at Palm Springs, Torrey, Phoenix, and L.A. wasn’t the easiest. And I’ll keep saying that because those are venues that I absolutely love,” Rahm said.
“Driving by Phoenix as often as I had to, seeing the stands, and knowing that I wasn’t going to be there was quite hard. Right? I still love the PGA Tour, and I still hope everything goes well. I also hope that at some point, I can compete there again.”
Perhaps Rahm will compete on the PGA Tour one day—if tour brass and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) can strike a formal agreement.
But before that happens, Rahm is focused on Augusta National, where he feels better than ever and ready to make history.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
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