Rahm spurred on by echoes from the past
NOT every initial encounter with the Old Course results in love at first sight. As a three-year-old, Jon Rahm’s family drove from Bilbao to the north of Scotland in a Volkswagen van, their stop-off in St Andrews stemming more from curiosity than a sense of duty.
A man with little more than a passing interest in golf at that stage in his life, it was only when the Ryder Cup was played in Valderrama in 1997 that Rahm’s father Edorta was finally bitten by the bug.
His passion passed down, from that moment on, his son’s subsequent visits to this storied corner of Fife were always to be life-affirming.
To play in any Open is special. When the backdrop is St Andrews, the pulse quickens ever so slightly.
For Rahm, to be here for the 150th staging of the tournament, with a gilt-edged chance of leaving with the Claret Jug, pretty much defies any superlative.
‘It’s hard to put it into words, truly,’ said the 27-year-old. ‘I love this game so much, and I love the history of it so much.
‘And to be part of this edition and to have a chance to possibly win it, with everything that comes with it and how great a venue this is, it’s very unique.
‘I’ve said it in interviews, in my opinion, this is truly the pinnacle of golf. I don’t think it gets any better than winning at St Andrews.
‘No offence to any other tournament in the world. It’s the oldest championship on the oldest course and where it all started.’
The question of why he believes it edges out Augusta, Pebble Beach or any of the other Open venues is answered without a moment’s hesitation. ‘History,’ replied Rahm. ‘It’s as simple as that. History. I wouldn’t say there’s anything with the golf course itself, which is plenty special.
‘I mean, I don’t think there’s many other courses where there’s only five individual greens, all the shared fairways and all these blind spots and all these many different ways of playing it.
‘It’s just the history of the game and how much it means.
‘I know The Open first started in Prestwick, but The R&A Club has been here, being part of the Scottish heritage that it is right now.
‘The area on the 18th green, first tee, it’s as unique as it gets.
‘I’ve heard multiple champions say it. You can’t really call yourself a great player unless you win The Open at St Andrews, which is a very selective group. I think it’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I do know what they mean.
‘And it can almost put your career to another level just because how great of a venue this one is.’
Ask a dozen people for the one moment down the years at this place that stands above the myriad contenders, and you might well get the same number of answers.
For the man from the Basque Country, there can only ever be one.
‘I mean, I don’t want to go with the obvious, but ’84 was very special for Spanish people,’ he said. ‘I’m going to go with that. That image of Seve celebrating.
‘It’s an iconic image not only for us but for the world of golf. So, I would say ’84.’
Born a decade after the great Ballesteros (inset, above) won the second of his three Opens, Rahm only turned pro the year after its last staging at the Old Course in 2015. His first exposure to its unique quirks and charms at the 2019 Dunhill predictably provided an education.
‘I didn’t have my best swing that day and usually, when I’m swinging badly, I’m missing right,’ he recalled.
‘The front nine was left-to-right wind like today. I think I hit it into every single right-hand bunker on the front nine that I could. Don’t hit it right. That’s the one thing I learned.
‘Whatever wind conditions you get and whatever wind direction you get can change this golf course drastically.
‘You have to know when to dial it back, when to be aggressive, what holes you have to take the right
line on and what holes you can bail out left of the tee.’
The 2021 US Open champion also feels enriched by the lessons learned at Brookline last month as a final-day score of four over par put paid to his hopes of retaining the trophy.
‘You don’t need to play perfect to win a championship,’ he stated when asked what the main takeaway was. ‘I was fighting my swing all week. I still gave myself a chance.’
Having finished a dozen shots behind Xander Schauffele at the Scottish Open, Rahm hasn’t arrived here in peak form but there’s a reason why only Rory McIlroy and the winner at the Renaissance Club are priced shorter this week. Accordingly, the days of wandering anonymously in this town he has grown to love are long gone.
‘There’s too many people,’ Rahm explained. ‘When you walk around with logos on your shirt, you’re pretty recognisable already.
‘I wish I could. There’s a couple of bookstores that I would love to go into and possibly buy a few golf history books.
‘But we drove by it yesterday and there were so many people. I was not going to deal with that.
‘Hopefully, I can come back at some point and go in and at least see it. But I don’t think I’m going to this week.’