TROON, Scotland: Jon Rahm felt like one of the most popular players when he arrived at Royal Troon, even though it had nothing to do with him or his golf.
Spain are in great form at the moment. Carlos Alcaraz won Wimbledon on Sunday for his second Grand Slam title of the year, just before Spain defeated England in the European Championship final. It is the latter that has Scottish fans celebrating the Spaniard.
Nobody around here likes to see England win anything.
“I played the whole 18 holes and I think I got more congratulations for something I didn't do than I've ever gotten in my life,” Rahm said Tuesday. “I don't know what they did, but every time someone plays against England, all the other countries in Europe unite against them.
“I think it’s because we’ve heard ‘It’s Coming Home’ so many times over the last few years that no one wants to see it come home at this point.”
Add to that Sergio Garcia's victory in his first LIV Golf event at Valderrama and Rahm would love nothing more than to extend Spain's winning streak.
He needs it most of all for himself.
The major championship season ends with the British Open, and Rahm was a no-show. He was the defending Masters champion when he left for LIV Golf last December and has yet to win. His last win was the Masters about 15 months ago.
He barely made the cut at the Masters. He missed the cut at the PGA Championship. And he couldn't even play at the U.S. Open because of a foot infection.
“Last year, from the Masters on, I didn't play my best,” Rahm said. “The Ryder Cup was the only similarity to maybe the first part of the year. But Nashville and last week (LIV events), I felt like I was getting closer to a higher level of golf, where maybe I'm not thinking about my process as much. Maybe I'm playing a little more freely and seeing the ball flight that I want to see more often.
“I'm getting very close to what it could have been at the beginning of last year.”
A foot infection just before the U.S. Open summed up a frustrating year. Rahm was hoping to play against Pinehurst No. 2 until he sought out a specialist, who numbed his foot and stuck a swab into the infection to clean it out.
“Pretty much when I saw him come in I was like, 'OK, I'm not going to play the Open,'” Rahm said. “Once I accepted the fact that I couldn't play, I think it was pretty fun. I think more than anyone else, I enjoyed watching some of the best players in the world battle.”
You can understand the difficulty of these times, especially in the majors.
Rahm hopes he’s solved some issues with his driver by purchasing a new shaft, which he says has allowed him to swing a little more freely. It wasn’t until Valhalla for the PGA Championship that he realized he needed a change.
The foot injury was a setback, but he fought in his next LIV event and then took 10th place at Valderrama last week. He has achieved top 10 finishes at every LIV event he has entered except Houston, where he withdrew due to the foot injury.
After all, LIV has the same 54 players every week, and only the top half would be considered among the game's elite. Going through the year without a win can be frustrating, let alone the last 15 months.
Now it's Royal Troon's turn, a course that is usually easy on the outward journey and turns into a beast (and against the wind) on the return journey.
Rahm had planned to play just nine holes on Monday, but the weather was probably as glorious as it will be all week and he wanted to enjoy it. Wind or calm, rain or shine, it's avoiding the pot bunkers and gorse bushes that are the key to this British Open.
And after this week, golf gets a little confusing. He still has a LIV schedule to finish, but Rahm said his wife's pregnancy with their third child isn't going well and she's on bed rest. He doesn't know if he'll be able to play the Spanish Open this fall.
And it won't be until next April that Rahm will have a chance to compete against the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele. The best players now meet only four times a year in the majors.
“It's the decision I made,” he said of joining LIV. “I hope that at some point golf can figure itself out and we'll have more opportunities to play against each other.”
