A kiss to Alaia, an ocean flight from Arizona to Madrid and then the Spanish Open. These are the last hours for Jon Rahm, who at the beginning of this week became a father for the third time, with just enough time to introduce his first daughter to his brothers Kepa and Eneko at home, and flew from the United States to play starting this Thursday at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid. “I am very grateful for how well everything has gone and for being able to be here,” said the Basque on Wednesday, with the minutes counted to hit some balls on the practice court, stretch in the gym and enjoy at least a good dinner and change the hospital bench for a bed.
The late arrival of its star player has upset the plans of the organisation. Unlike in other editions, Rahm will start this Thursday in the afternoon session, at 2:00 p.m. (Movistar Golf) alongside the reigning champion, the Frenchman Matthieu Pavon, and the Austrian Sepp Straka, and on Friday he will start the second day at 9:10 a.m. instead of being the attraction of the evening session, when more people usually come to the course.
At 29, Rahm is chasing his fourth crown after triumphs in 2018, 2019 and 2022, and in the process breaking the tie with Seve Ballesteros, winner in 1981, 1985 and 1995 (five victories were won by Ángel de la Torre between 1916 and 1925). The Basque is leading a field of many carats, the most brilliant of recent years. In Madrid, other European figures are getting ready, such as Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry, Rahm’s teammates in LIV such as David Puig, Eugenio López-Chacarra, Patrick Reed and Tyrrell Hatton, as well as Josele Ballester, recent amateur US Open champion and member of the armada of 25 Spanish golfers present at this championship that distributes 3.25 million euros in prizes.
Rahm arrives after covering his first season in LIV, the Saudi League that caused an earthquake with his signing last December. The Basque won the last tournament of the season in Chicago two weeks ago, secured the lead in the individual classification, wore the NBA-style championship ring and earned a bonus of 18 million dollars. Last weekend he was absent from the team final in Dallas due to flu, and the men of Legion XIII finished in fourth place. “It’s been a very good year, I haven’t missed a single game,” he said. top 10 in the 12 tournaments I have played. It’s a shame I haven’t been better in the big ones,” he said.
Rahm’s LIV competition has brought him a series of fines from the European circuit, DP World Tour, which the Basque player refuses to pay. The player from Barrika has filed an appeal to the courts to freeze these sanctions and thus be able to compete in the Madrid event and the next two stops on the circuit, the Alfred Dunhill (3-6 October) and the Andalucía Masters (17-20 October). These are the three competitions in which he needs to compete to complete, along with his participation in the Olympic Games, the minimum of four tournaments of the tour The European Championship in 2024 is required to be selected for next year’s Ryder Cup. “I’m not playing the Open for glory or anything like that. I do it because I think it’s my duty. Not playing would not only harm me, but also Spanish golf,” he said recently. The conflict between the Saudi League and the major circuits continues to rage while negotiations in New York in recent weeks are shedding some light.
“Given what we have had to deal with off the course, it has been my most complex year. Let’s see if this is the beginning of a return to normality. I don’t know if I had anything to do with it. Once I moved to LIV, I neither make nor break anything, it depends on the people in the offices. My goal was not to be the savior of golf, there are people who have done much more, and I have not been part of the negotiations like other players,” Rahm reasoned. And he drew an ideal framework to unite the two sides: “That there is freedom to be able to play. Being a member of the European circuit and the PGA Tour, I never had to ask permission to play anything, you could do what you wanted and enjoy this sport in other tournaments around the world. I think that almost no one from LIV would want to play a whole year on the PGA Tour again because it would be impossible to combine it, but I would want to play certain tournaments.”
“I am optimistic,” Rahm said of the solution to the great mess in world golf. “I think there has been a lot of progress lately. I want there to be a good atmosphere in golf and we have the opportunity to create something new and special for the players and the spectators. More and better golf for everyone.”
Groups and schedules for the first two days of the Spanish Open.
