With a maiden PGA Tour victory under his belt, 22-year-old Jon Rahm is poised to establish himself among the world’s elite, writes MIKE TODT in Compleat Golfer.
‘Every part of his game is a strength,’ gushed Phil Mickelson after Jon Rahm stormed to victory at the Farmers Insurance Open in January, closing the deal with a back nine of 30. ‘I think he’s one of the best players in the world.’
Hype? Caught up in the moment? Or was Lefty on the money? It would seem the story of Jon Rahm Rodriguez lends plenty of credence to the latter.
Stories about the level of poverty under which Seve Ballesteros learned the game of golf do vary. Some say he used only a 3-iron; others say it was the discarded head of a 3-iron tied to a stick. Reportedly, his ball-like objects of choice for practise were pebbles on the beach, although many believe he used to hit potatoes on the local farmlands. It was probably both.
What is not in doubt, though, is that the great man inspired a new generation of Spanish golfers – none more so than Rahm. The small Basque town of Barrika, which lies 100km from Ballesteros’ birthplace of Pedrena, is better known for its affinity with football, and Rahm himself is an avid Athletic Bilbao fan.
But under the eye of his father Edorta, and with the passion of Seve coursing through his veins, golf was always destined to be his chosen path. And it quickly became clear that Rahm had something special. He won the Spanish Junior Championship at the age of 15, and began touring the continent to put his talents to the test.
However, the seminal moment of his development had little to do with his budding prowess. As a 16-year-old, he played at the European Boys’ Championship in Stockholm. Unbeknown to him, Tim Mickelson – brother to Phil, and Arizona State University (ASU) coach – was in attendance. Rahm finished second.
Yet, when he returned to his hotel room that evening, he discovered to his horror that he’d played the final round with 15 clubs. With the tournament officials and scorers having long packed up, Rahm could have easily taken this secret to his grave. Instead, he made a beeline for his coach, informed him of the infringement, and was duly disqualified. Tim Mickelson had seen enough, and not long after that, Rahm was signing to take up a scholarship at one of the finest institutions on the collegiate circuit.
For a 17-year-old kid with his background, there were always going to be teething problems adapting to life in the US. The biggest obstacle was his English – or lack of it. ‘The language barrier was hard,’ Rahm told the Golf Channel.
It wasn’t just speaking English that was an issue either. He tried without success to read the signs to the correct venue for his first lecture, and mistakenly walked into an auditorium with just under 400 people inside.
‘I thought it was a movie theatre and I was in the wrong place,’ he laughed. ‘It was a macro-economic principles class. I’ll never forget it. I’d come from a high school where the biggest class was 30 people.’
A character as tough as Rahm wasn’t to be overwhelmed, though, and it was the clubs which allowed him to feel like he belonged in this new and foreign environment. He drew comfort from the fact he had a fellow Spanish speaker in Mexican teammate Alberto Sanchez, although this proved a blessing and a curse in equal measure. Coach Mickelson put in place an ‘English only’ policy, so if he caught the duo exchanging words in Spanish, he would dish out the harshest of punishments: burpees.
‘You say a sentence that has 10 words, you’re making 10 burpees,’ said Rahm. ‘And they’re not easy. They’re tiring. And if he catches you having a five-minute conversation, you do not want to know what’s going on next.’
Needless to say, it impressed upon him the importance of picking up the language quickly, although his approach to do so was somewhat unorthodox. Taking inspiration from the great philosophers (rappers) Eminem and Kendrick Lamar, he would memorise the lyrics of their ballads (rap songs), and he credits hits such as ‘Love the Way You Lie’ and ‘Swimming Pools’ as being the ones that really strengthened his English.
‘You can look those songs up, they’re very good,’ Rahm added with a grin.
While learning English, along with a BA degree in Communications, ranked somewhere near the top of the priority list, it was on the course where the expectation fell on Rahm to deliver. Phil Mickelson was comfortably the most successful player in ASU history until the Spaniard came along, racking up 16 collegiate titles in his time as a Sun Devil. Billy Mayfair was a distant second on eight.
Rahm? Well, he won his first title in just his second month of college – the Bill Cullum Invitational. He won the event again two years later, and in between had fired the lowest NCAA Championship opening-round score (61), along with a 54-hole scoring record of 192 (-21).
But it was in his final 18 months that the accolades and trophies began to flow. He won the individual prize at the 2014 Eisenhower Trophy in Japan, smashing Jack Nicklaus’ scoring record by six strokes. In 2015, he defended the Spanish Amateur title, won the Mark McCormack Medal, scooped the Ben Hogan Award and even posted a T5 finish at the Waste Management Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour.
He won the individual prize at the 2014 Eisenhower Trophy in Japan, smashing Jack Nicklaus’ scoring record by six strokes. In 2015, he defended the Spanish Amateur title, won the Mark McCormack Medal, scooped the Ben Hogan Award and even posted a T5 finish at the Waste Management Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour.
In his final college season, he played at 13 events and finished inside the top 10 in all of them. He took his tally of victories to 11, and earned Ping First-Team All-American honours for the second successive year. He was also handed the Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award (for the top player in college golf) and then became the first player to win the Ben Hogan Award for a second time. He graduated college in May 2016 and by the time he turned pro the following month, he’d been the world’s No 1-ranked amateur for 60 weeks.
Most will remember the 2016 US Open as Dustin Johnson’s big breakthrough, but lurking in the shadows was Rahm, who finished as the low amateur in a share of 23rd. He decided the time was right to join the paid ranks, and in his first event as a pro (the Quicken Loans National), he led or held a share of the lead for the first two rounds, before finishing third.
He then came within millimetres of forcing a playoff at the RBC Canadian Open in July, with his 10-foot eagle putt at the last hole ghosting agonisingly past the lip of the hole to hand a one-stroke victory to Jhonattan Vegas.
He’d now done more than enough to secure his card for 2017, and, by January, he was a member of the winner’s circle, thanks to that barnstorming finish at Torrey Pines.
‘I never thought I couldn’t make it as a pro,’ Rahm said after his Farmers Insurance Open triumph. ‘I really don’t think I can’t make it, really ever. That’s probably what happened today.’
Winning, and even possessing skill in such abundance, is barely half of what makes the story of Rahm so captivating, though. An equal contributor to his swelling legion of fans is his charisma, power off the tee, charming smile and aggressive approach to the game.
No prizes for guessing where he gets all that from.
Shades of Seve were most apparent at the recent WGC-Dell Match Play final against Johnson. Rahm had got himself pumped up before the match, brimming with confidence at the prospect of squaring up against the best.
Perhaps to his own detriment unfortunately, as he produced an error-strewn outward half and found himself five down through eight holes.
His sensational comeback over the next 10 holes included dramatic late birdies, 438-yard drives, wild tee shots, tremendous scrambling, clutch putts, exuberant celebrations, fist pumps with the galleries and sheer guts and chutzpah.
It truly was Seve 2.0.
Only a slammed toilet door on the final hole (after another outrageous drive that flew the green) prevented Rahm from halting the imperious Johnson in his tracks. For this guy, though, the cliche, ‘When one door closes, another one opens’ could hardly be more apt.
‘Honestly,’ he said after the narrow 1-down defeat, ‘as sad as I might emotionally feel, I’m extremely happy with what I did out there. I confirmed what I already thought: that I belong. Unfortunately for me, I had the hottest player on earth. I’m not going to win them all, but I’m certainly giving myself opportunities.’
So, what does the future hold for Rahm? Simply, there is no limit to what he can achieve. Frighteningly, he is but 22 years old and is far from the finished article. That a bunch of Major titles and a full trophy cabinet will be his by the time he hangs up the spikes in a few decades’ time is not in question.
But it’s almost secondary. More intriguing is the charisma, box-office shotmaking, and joyful – even playful – aura that makes him so engrossing to watch. It’s exactly the kind of X factor golf has been crying out for.
DID YOU KNOW
Rahm grew up taking part in sport and activities such as soccer, canoeing, jai alai and kung fu before focusing on golf.
He is the only two-time winner of the Ben Hogan Award – in 2015 and 2016 – which recognises the outstanding male amateur and collegiate golfer of the year. He also won the Jack Nicklaus Award in 2016 and is a four-time NCAA All-American.
BEST FINISHES
2015 – Phoenix Open (T5th)
2016 – RBC Canadian Open (T2nd), Quicken Loans National (T3rd), US Open (T23rd), The Open Championship (T59th)
2017 – Farmers Insurance Open (1st), WGC-Dell Match Play (2nd), WGC-Mexico Championship (T3rd), AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (T5th), Phoenix Open (T16th)
– This article first appeared in the May issue of Compleat Golfer
