JRam laughed. “I have to be careful here. I don’t want to be in the headlines.” He means, of the unwanted kind. Ram has been on billboards for years. The question should be simple. In his opinion, who is the best male golfer in the world right now? However, reigning Masters champion Rahm realizes there will be huge trouble as he and others leave LIV Golf. The Rebel Tour’s failure to gain recognition from the Official World Golf Ranking adds complications that Rahm has been vocal about in the past. This time, he calmed down and gave a completely sensible answer.
“Let me put it this way; I think I can compete with anybody at any given time,” Rahm said. “I’ll leave it at that. I think at my best I can play against anybody. But that’s what everyone should be thinking about. I think Rory [McIlroy] would tell you the same thing, or Dustin [Johnson]or Scotty [Scheffler]”.
McIlroy will arrive at Augusta National on Tuesday hoping to win a major he sorely missed. Johnson is another LIV convert who doesn’t give the impression that he’s particularly worried about taking on the best. Scheffler is the hottest player in men’s sports and a reasonable short-priced favorite to don the green jacket.
Ram’s story is the most interesting, though. He has gone from being a critic of the LIV format to being its poster girl. Any suggestion that the Saudi-backed tour is a slaughterhouse for ousted golfers has been refuted by Rahm, arguably the most aggressive animal in golf. He insists he would rank all LIV awards alongside trophies from earlier in his career. “Oh my God, yes!” he said. “Trophies are trophies. You might say, I have some PGA Tour trophies that are not the most valuable, but they are still valuable to me. The Spanish Open is very valuable to me. It’s not about winning level of monument or victory [the US Open] At Torrey Pines, but a win is a win. ” Any thought to the contrary would make him look insulted.
No one can say Rahm won the 2023 Masters easily. He made double bogey on the first hole of the tournament. In the 29-year-old’s mind, standing on the No. 7 fairway at par was always a vantage point; he recovered to that precise point. Rahm was four strokes behind Brooks Koepka when play was suspended due to weather delays on Saturday. Rahm won by the same margin Sunday night.
During this period, he lost interest in the PGA Tour, to the point where a switch to LIV became inevitable. Rahm admits his Masters return has some proving value. “Yes and no,” he said. “I think we all know where we stand. We all know where we are in this game. The competition hasn’t changed, my mentality hasn’t changed, I still have to fight for the win. I don’t think it’s necessary in that sense Proof. But hopefully that mindset itself is a point I can make.
“There are expectations. You just look forward to it. Coming back as a champion is different and it’s a special week. But the main goal is to try to remember that you can hopefully win again. I’m going to enjoy every bit of it that comes with being a champion benefits, but at the same time not losing sight of what I’m trying to do.”
Lahm at least seems very comfortable in his new surroundings. It’s easy to point to money (in this case, hundreds of millions of dollars) as the primary motivation for his December move. However, it must be remembered that golfers like Rahm are on their way to becoming billionaires no matter what. People are understandably nervous about the guaranteed wealth LIV offers, but Rahm doesn’t seem like the type to downplay his professional instincts.
“It’s different, right?” he said of LIV’s background. “People will tell you different things based on their own experience. I’ve heard a lot of music is louder than you think when you warm up. [where teammates hit shots alongside each other] It’s different and stuff like that. If you play enough junior or college golf, you get used to these things. In college, we would have five guys in one place warming up and taking turns hitting the ball. I’m playing music at home but I can’t hear the music in match mode.
“Once the gun goes off, once you tee off, there’s zero difference in my mind, to be honest. Sometimes, I really forget this is a 54-hole tournament. You’re playing against some of the best in the world. guys competing. The competition is there and you have to go out there and shoot low.”
But does Ram care about perception? He took bags of cash and ran away? “Well, I’m a human being, so to some extent you care about what people think of you, but not in this case,” he said. “I understand if someone disagrees with me, but it doesn’t really affect me.
“I think the transfer situation is different for a lot of other players. For the most part, I don’t hear a lot of negative things from other players. There’s always going to be people who don’t like it, who don’t approve of it, but there’s always “It’s not a big deal.” By “different circumstances,” Lamm refers to LIV’s early recruiters who received more criticism. He believes golf is closer to global unification now than at any time in two tumultuous years.
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Many are wondering what late Spanish golf icon Seve Ballesteros would have thought of Rahm’s move. Rahm suggests (but is not certain) that Ballesteros may have been a supporter of Greg Norman’s breakaway touring plans in the 1990s. Decades later, with the help of the Public Investment Fund, Norman realized his dream. “I don’t know him, so I don’t know [what he would think] But he is a competitor, a dog,” said Ballesteros’ Lahm. “I don’t think he would disagree or disapprove of me. He wants me to continue to be myself.
“I’m still playing in the Grand Slams. I’ve always wanted to etch my name in the Spanish history books and I’m lucky to be able to do that. But there are many ways to do it. I think we have a chance in Create something special here. If I can be as good as I am on the PGA Tour for the next 20 years of my career here, that will be something to show for it.”
This is striking. Rahm has been instrumental in shaping the LIV team, from logo design to apparel selection, and believes he is actively redefining golf. “I like to think so,” Ram added. “We can be seen as leaders or pioneers. Hopefully? This is an opportunity. That’s how I choose to look at it. It’s all about how you choose to take advantage of that opportunity.”
Interestingly, Rahm can’t name the golfer with whom he now shares a locker at Augusta National. All he knew was that it was the 1968 champion – Bob Godby – and someone from the 1940s. Rahm has returned to the Masters home course in recent weeks to play a round with one of his college teammates, but essentially to take the edge off his return to Augusta. “You’re in that champion’s locker room and you’re excited that you’re forever a part of that golf cub’s history,” he said. “Your name is always on that locker. It’s a special feeling.”
Rahm’s Ryder Cup situation is complicated by the area of his game. Essentially, European teams have to find a way to make Lahm eligible to defend the trophy next September. He is keen to feature on future DP World Tours – particularly when the tour visits Spain – but currently he is subject to sanctions. “What do I think? I think I’ll be there,” he said of the Ryder Cup. “I want to be at Bethpage, I think I’ll be at Bethpage. Hopefully I can qualify so they don’t have to select me.” Over to you, Luke Donald.
If Rahm successfully defends his Masters title—even if he doesn’t yet—it seems impossible that he won’t become a part of Donald’s team. As a two-time Masters champion, Rahm will gain new status and reputation. “It puts you in a different class,” he admits. “If I were to do it, I would be more focused on becoming the first Spanish-born player after Seve to reach three majors. Not many Europeans have won three majors. I would be more focused Think about that instead of having two green jackets.” LIV or not, Rahm exudes a confidence that suggests he will make his mark at Augusta again.
