“It’s the first time in my life that I don’t want to see a golf club.” How much, and how intense, has it had to go through in 2021 for Jon Rahm, someone who defines himself as “sick” of his sport, a 27-year-old who devours his history and myths, who loves to compete, has finished so saturated. The answer speaks for itself: the birth of their first child, the death of a friend from coronavirus, the conquest of his first big, two contagions by covid, the forced resignation to the Olympic Games, a defeat in the Ryder, the consolidation as world number one, an overwhelming following when he has played in Spain … Even for a golfer with a mind of steel like that of the Basque from Barrika, the cocktail of emotions has had too many ingredients.
Rahm said enough after not pass the cut in the Valderrama Masters in mid October. At home, Rahm was not Rahm, the majestic player who has lined up the court of American stars on their own turf. When he arrived in Spain to play the National Open and the Andalusian tournament in two consecutive weeks, the boy discovered the impact of his achievements. When he was leaving the hotel to eat an omelette skewer and some ham, the man who went to America as a teenager who could not speak English was surprised upon his return when he saw his face all over Madrid. Above all, he was impressed by a huge canvas with his image that covered the facade of a building. Thousands of people came to see him at the Open, and although Rahm responded from the start with his game, then he collapsed, in the capital and in Valderrama. “The mind has not given me for more,” he accepted.
Until his leads melted, Rahm hadn’t gotten off the Ferris wheel all year. April 3 Kepa Cahill was born, the first son of Jon and his wife, Kelley. It was the day his Athletic lost the Cup final against Real Sociedad. And on the eve of the Augusta Masters, the great one that marks the successive chain of Spanish golf: Seve, Olazabal, Sergio García … Despite arriving with hardly any training, the Basque was fifth. Another place of honor in the quest for the green jacket, although this time something had changed forever. Rahm was already competing as a dad. Their order of priorities had changed.
He noticed it when shortly after, in early June, he had to withdraw when he was about to win the Memorial Tournament, the Jack Nicklaus tournament, after testing positive for covid. He missed a title that was already touching, leader with a great advantage, and had to isolate himself. As much as that faded success, it hurt him not to be present when his parents met his grandson, although already then he took the blow with aplomb: “This is one of those things that happens in life, one of those moments in which the way that we respond to a setback defines us as people ”.
Life and death
While remaining the volcanic golfer he has always been, Rahm has learned to channel into the field that tremendous former energy that in the past he had more difficulty controlling. The birth of Kepa has also served to relativize the anger after a bad (or regular) round of golf. Thus, with that inner peace, he gave the bell by winning the US Open, his first great and at the same time the only Spanish conquest in the American Open. Just when his parents and son were on the field, right on the field at Torrey Pines, where he won his first professional tournament, the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open, where he also got engaged to Kelley. “It was very special to win with three generations of Rahm on the field,” he said; “I have always believed what I can achieve. It’s not that I’m a cool person, it’s that I know what I’m capable of. For those like me, who have that anger inside, you have to be who you are on the golf course, but not be affected by the person you are outside. I wish I had understood earlier how to change. It happened as it had to. The birth of my son has helped me. I have that anger and that competitiveness, but now I am more serene on the field. One day you look in the mirror and notice the change. I am not proud of many things that I have done on the golf course, but without those moments I would not be who I am now ”.
In the ecstasy of his triumph, Rahm remembered his friend José Manuel Cortizas, a journalist for El Correo who died in February from COVID at age 58: “He would have loved to write this story.” Life and death in such a short time.
Seated as number one in the world, a throne in which he has made sure to finish until the end of the year, lCovid attacked him again about to board a plane for the Tokyo Games. A new positive forced him to get out of a tournament that made him especially excited about competing with Spain and which other stars had given up due to the complexities of a packed schedule. It was the last stick, in addition to losing the Ryder with Europe to the United States, before bursting on his return to Spain.
Rahm’s maturing process is reflected in his work with his mental trainer, Joseba del Carmen. Even maintaining their relationship, the contacts have been less frequent this year. Rahm has managed himself more. “Jon is a super mature guy for his age. He knows what he wants, when and how, and having a child has awakened feelings that he soon transferred to the golf course, ”explains Del Carmen. “His maturity has been going on for a long time. Confinement, a son … Having a family impacts. And on top of that, everyone expected him to win a big one, to be number one. We have worked on frustration and anger. Jon is a winner, he will be brave, he will take risks. Now you have found the point and squared everything. The example is how he faced testing positive for covid, without complaining, turning it over from the tranquility. And all being true to himself, with character and with that anger of his. That he has used to compete. He has grown a lot emotionally ”, completes Del Carmen.
To unwind, Rahm likes to wash dishes and glasses early in the morning. The more dishes, the better, it counts. He also relaxes by writing a journal. The leaves of 2021 have been the most intense of his life.
From Tiger’s return to a special British Open
The Big Four of 2021 wrote surprising stories. Hideki Matsuyama became the first Asian golfer to win the Augusta Masters and the first Japanese with a major. Jon Rahm became great at the US Open, the only Spaniard with the US Open on his record. Collin Morikawa celebrated the British Open in his first appearance. And the climax came in the PGA Championship that Phil Mickelson buckled at age 50 to become the oldest golfer to win a Grand Slam tournament. The bar is high for a 2022 also full of incentives. The first will be to know if Tiger Woods can compete again at the highest level. Her dreams turn green again in a possible participation in her Augusta garden in April. But the great appointment marked in red on the calendar will be a very special British Open: the great Englishman turns 150 years old and he will celebrate it in the mythical cradle of St. Andrews.
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