Golf

Jon Rahm Bags 2024 LIV Golf UK Win in Lead up to Paris Olympics

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3m ago

Aug 05, 2024 / 8538 Views

Evan Walker

Jon Rahm came out tops at the recent 2024 LIV Golf UK competition and is now all geared up to compete at the Olympics men’s golf event, from August 1 to 4. Here’s what we can expect to see next from the world’s highest paid golfer.

Despite the assertion that success in sport is an individual pursuit with the athlete having nothing to prove to anyone but himself, silencing critics often becomes a part of the journey.

Jon Rahm was on a similar exercise since he moved to LIV Golf on a bumper deal last December. He shut the naysayers after 11 starts with the one-shot win in the United Kingdom. At 13-under, Rahm edged out over his Legion XIII teaMMAte Tyrrell Hatton, Torque GC’s Joaquin Niemann and Ripper GC’s Cameron Smith on Sunday, July 28.

The Spaniard was at the peak of his golfing prowess when the switch from the PGA Tour to LIV happened, and talk swirled that money was the sole driving force.

Even if that was so, Rahm couldn’t be blamed as a deal of around USD 500 million did the rounds. Rahm may have prioritised Saudi money over the PGA Tour and his legacy as multiple-time winner on that Tour, but it must be remembered that careers in professional sport are short, and money matters often influence a decision at that level.

“When they slap you with a large amount of money in your face, your feelings do change. I try not to be a materialistic person, but I do owe it to my family as well to set them up for success the best I can, and having kids I think changed that quite a bit. So, the money is a part of it, I’m not going to lie,” Rahm was quoted in reports.

Now Olympics-bound, Jon Rahm triumphs at 2024 LIV Golf UK

Major trigger

According to reports, the changeover started playing on Rahm’s mind soon after he won the 2023 Masters. For Rahm, there was serious logic behind the thought.

The switch would deny Rahm of Official World Ranking Points, but by being exempt for the Majors, the pinnacle of professional golf, Rahm was willing to consider taking that route.

“Winning the Masters was a huge step towards maybe thinking about it. Being exempt from Majors, knowing that most likely you can play the Masters for life and the US Open at least until 2031, I’m set with two of those, right, so it was a big determining factor,” Rahm was quoted when he broke his silence after the move to LIV.

Not a smooth transition

The big money and mega buildup after the move were all good for the hype, and so was the evolution of Legion XIII, the team created for Rahm to navigate.

As leader, Rahm played a pivotal role in moulding his unit into a champion side. “I try and set the tone to the team and just make it clear that the goal is to win,” said Rahm on the latest win. In 11 starts, Legion XIII have four wins, including the latest one at the JCB Golf & Country Club, and trail leaders Crushers GC by a slim margin.

But amid his team’s exploits in its inaugural season, Rahm, the player, was searching for the winning touch. He came close a number of times – the top-5s in Mayakoba, Jeddah, Miami, Adelaide and Nashville, and the solid T7 at the 152nd Open in Royal Troon, but it was as if there lay a message in those close shaves.

The pressures of captaincy and his putter not delivering enough steeled him and the resolve to keep working towards holding aloft the trophy again, something he hadn’t had a chance to do since the Masters triumph last season.

Rahm was to admit, “You never want to get those feelings to go on for too long, and to get over the hump feels great and incredible.”

The world may have been unaware, but there was a battle on the home front too. His wife Kelley, a former track and field athlete, was in ill health, and despite not talking about it much in the lead-up to the week in United Kingdom, Rahm gave an insight after he silenced the naysayers and their chatter that he had lost the winning touch after leaving the PGA Tour.

“It’s just emotional. It hasn’t been the easiest year for our family. Kelley and I have gone through quite a bit, and she has gone through even more, being on bedrest among many other things. She and our son Kepa did tell me to bring a trophy home in this stretch of golf, and I started to believe it was going to happen.”

Riding the crest to Paris 2024

Rahm can now look at Kelley and his children and say he’s bringing the trophy home for them.

For the former World No 1, time has been the best healer, and more succour could be in store as Rahm gets ready to tee-off in his maiden Olympic Games.

In fact, Paris would have been his second appearance, but given the times then, Rahm tested positive for COVID the second time that year and days before the pandemic-hit 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

“It sucked because I wanted to represent Spain. I wanted to hopefully give Spain a medal, I was wishing for a gold medal, but just being part of that medal count for the country would have been huge. I was more in the mindset of playing for [Spain] more than me. I’m not going to lie, I’m going to have to wait three more years hopefully to qualify for the [Paris] Olympics, but I was really ready for this one,” was Rahm’s anguished retort in an interview to golf.com.

The angst of missing out in 2021 has whetted the apPetite for an Olympic gold. Rahm will tee-off at Le Golf National on Thursday, August 1, with Spanish teaMMAte David Puig, and the eagerness in his quest for gold was unmistakable.

“I think that walk down 18 or down the back nine [in Paris] would have been a little bit harder had I not gotten a win [in UK], but getting over the hump and getting it done I think is going to give me a little extra confidence if I put myself in a good position on Sunday (August 4). I’m really looking forward to sharing the week with David. It’s going to be fantastic, and hopefully one of us can leave with the gold,” said Rahm.

Over time, Rahm has stated that he is his biggest critic, and like he used the winless phase and the ensuing criticism, “by virtue of being in the public eye”, as fuel to motivate himself, the win in UK could well be the springboard to Olympic glory for Rahm.

(Main and featured images: Jon Rahm/ Instagram)