TOURN APART
Rahm admits he misses playing top courses on US tour...but says Liv will not stop quest to retain title
LIV rebel Jon Rahm admits he misses the PGA Tour but aims to show his old pals what they’re missing by retaining the Green Jacket this week.
The 2023 champion rocked golf when he joined the Saudi-backed breakaway league in December.
Some critics argued the shorter format of LIV events (tournaments are played over three, rather than four, days) would blunt his edge, but the Spaniard reckons it has in fact helped his game.
Rahm has competed in five LIV events, with tiedthird his best finish to date.
And he reckons he’s cherry ripe to make Augusta a field of dreams once more.
In the build-up to this year’s Masters, Rahm called for LIV to play 72-hole events instead of 54 but insisted the reduced playing time has not affected his preparation. “You’re saying that playing less is a bad thing, which I wouldn’t agree with,” Rahm said. “If anything, I feel physically better than I did last year.
“But then, once competition starts, it doesn’t really matter. Once the gun goes off, whatever you feel is out the window; you’ve got to go out there and post a score. So it’s not something that I have in mind, but I do feel fresh and ready for it.”
Despite his December defection, it’s clear Rahm misses the PGA Tour, and four courses in particular.
“There are some venues that I miss not being at, not only because I won there but just because I love them. And that’s the reason why I played well in those tournaments,” Rahm said.
“Not being at Palm Springs, Torrey, Phoenix and LA wasn’t the easiest. And I’ll keep saying that because those are venues that I absolutely love. And 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. I still love the PGA Tour and I still hope that at some point I can compete there again.”
Rahm’s Masters win last year was seen as a victory for the PGA Tour over the upstart rebel tour.
But the boot will be on the other foot if the Spaniard wins again this week.
Rahm (above, with US star Bryson Dechambeau using protective specs to view the solar eclipse in North America) said he hoped his move to LIV Golf would accelerate talks between the two warring parties.
He said: “I hoped it would be a step towards some kind of agreement, yes.
“But, unfortunately, it’s not up to me.
“At the end of the day, I still did what I thought was best for myself.”
Rahm is 12-1 third favourite for the Masters, behind Scottie Scheffler at 4-1 and Rory Mcilroy at 10-1.