The most earthly year of Jon Rahm | Sports

From a heavenly 2021 to an earthly 2022. The year of Jon Rahm ends this Thursday at the Spanish Open that is being held at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid with the challenge of culminating a season that is not as brilliant as the previous one. “I’ve had a bad year in quotes, a little worse than the last ones, but I’m in a good moment. I’ve been fine with the game all year, I’ve played very well, but I don’t remember so many ties and bad pots after good shots… Last year I put it on the tee from one and it was minus eight because yes, this year has been a little different”, says Jon Rahm on Tuesday at the Madrid City Hall, together with Rafa Cabrera Bello, defender of the title, and the Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, before starting this Thursday the tournament (at Movistar Golf). “But that also means there’s a little less pressure from me. I come with a different mentality, more relaxed, it reminds me more of my first year”, explains the Basque golfer rewinding to 2018, when he held his first open at the National Center before more than 47,000 fans during the four days. He repeated bingo in 2019, the championship was not played due to the pandemic in 2020 and last year he finished with the gas tank very just after an exhausting campaign: 17th classified and the cut failed the following week at the Valderrama Masters. This course Rahm will not compete in Andalusia, and he arrives at the Acciona Open de España with a clearer mind after a few weeks off during the summer and the birth of his second child, Eneko.

The bar was sky high. In 2021, Rahm collected a top 10 berth in the big four (fifth at the Masters, eighth at the PGA, first at the US Open and third at the British Open), added 13 top ten In 21 disputed tournaments, he tied two victories, celebrated his first major and finished the year as number one in the world. Hard to match it. In 2022, one backpack win (Mexico Open) and nine top-10 finishes in 19 tournaments; for the first time since 2017, his first full course as a professional, no place of honor in the greats (27th at the Masters, 48th at the PGA, 12th at the US Open and 34th at the British Open); and sixth in the world rankings, the first time since September 2019 that he has left the circle of the top five on the planet.

“Where I am in the world ranking matters more to you than to me, and the public doesn’t care either, nothing changes. A big difference compared to last year is that after the US Open and the Ryder I ended up very tired. This year the public support will be the same [42.371 espectadores acudieron el curso anterior al Club de Campo]. I love going back to Spain and playing courses that maintain this essence. For me, the Open is very important, I have won cups like this in lower categories and playing it is the way to unite my amateur career in Madrid with my professional career, it is a link”, explains Rahm, who at 27 years of age focuses on the challenge of match all three titles (1981, 1985 and 1995) of his idol Seve Ballesteros. The record is held by Ángel de la Torre, with five crowns between 1916 and 1925. Rahm will leave on Thursday from the tee from 10 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. and Friday from tee from 1 to 14.00.

Along with Rahm, Fleetwood and Rafa Cabrera, Thomas Björn and Edoardo Molinari, vice-captains of Luke Donald in the European team of the Rome Ryder 2023 after Henrik Stenson’s escape to the Saudi league, will also be enlisted. An earthquake that continues to shake golf, today involved in a judicial war between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour, with more and more cards changing sides (the last high-level one was Cameron Smith when he was world number two and had just won the 150 British Open in Saint Andrews) and that Rahm regrets the consequences it may have in the biennial competition against the United States. “The only regret he gives me is that some players can’t play the Ryder, like Sergio García. For me, otherwise there is no problem, it is a league that makes a lot of money, whether it is an exhibition or not, and I am not the one to judge what others do, it is their decision. What I don’t like is when there are negative comments towards those players. If you have made the decision, be happy, it is golf, we are autonomous, we have the right to play where we want. There is a positive part because it has made the PGA Tour able to change things and improve”. Namely, improve the prize pool and create new and juicy tournaments.

You can follow EL PAÍS Sports in Facebook y Twitterthe apuntarte here to receive our weekly newsletter.