On and off the courses, the year that has just started is not just any year for the world of golf. With the Ryder Cup in Rome waiting for the end of September, the war of the traditional circuits with the multi-million dollar LIV Golf project promises to continue offering unpredictable chapters. And in the midst of it all, the robust figure of Jon Rahm (Barrika, 1994) emerges, the fittest golfer in the world, winner on Sunday in Hawaii of his third title in his last five appearanceswho does not succeed in envisioning the future of his sport with so many changes and who does not stop asking all the actors to sit at a table and reach an agreement for the good of all.
On the course, Rahm finally broke his jinx on Sunday with the Plantation Course in Kapalua (Maui) and, after two second places in the first tournament of the year, the Sentry Tournament of Champions reserved for last year’s champions and the top 30 of FedEx, took the win with a historic comeback. With one of those unforgettable rounds (-10), Barrika’s lion took perfect advantage of the strange collapse of a reliable player like Collin Morikawa, double winner of major, including a shot from the bunker at 14 and a frog jump at 15, and signed a great comeback. The Californian let slip the six stroke lead with which he started the day, equaling the biggest debacle that has ever occurred on the PGA Tour.
It is the third victory in five tournaments for the Basque, who looks askance at coexistence with LIV Golf in 2023
Rahm thus added his third victory in his last five tournaments, which joins those achieved at the Acciona Open in Spain in October and at the DP World Tour Championship (the grand final of the European Tour) in November. His other two performances in this period are not negligible at all, a fourth place in the CJ Cup and an eighth place in the Hero World Challenge, the tournament sponsored by Tiger Woods. Despite everything, the Basque has not managed to rise in the world ranking and remains in fifth position, just behind Patrick Cantlay, with Rory McIlroy still at the top. Although the ranking has an adjustment pending that makes it virtually fourth in the world. “I’m trying to understand what’s going on after winning three times and still not being able to pass Cantlay. I feel that since August I have been the best player in the world. At the beginning of the year it was Scheffler, later clearly McIlroy and now I am ”, he explained after his victory in Maui.
Rahm, who already has seven straight years with at least one win, pocketed a check for $2.7 million as the tournament was the first of the “high,” a new category of which the PGA Tour has created with a 20 million dollar bag to combat LIV Golf.
Precisely, the Saudi league, which will begin its season in February in Mayakoba, the traditional stronghold of the North American circuit, completely marks the golf year. Rahm has been aligned from the beginning with the traditional circuits but has been much less vehement than other peers, such as Tiger Woods or Billy Horschel. In fact, he has spent months advocating a dialogue between all parties to fix the mess that is going on in golf today. An enigmatic scenario that can have a lot of impact on the Ryder Cup, which must make a decision on whether or not the LIV Golf players can finally participate, although today only Casey (Europe) and Dustin Johnson (USA) They would be classified by points.
Rahm, off the Kapalua 18th tee
At the moment, there is no indication of dialogue but finals like the one experienced in Hawaii strengthen the PGA Tour brand in this war that seems to have no end.
