Jon Rahm (Barrika, 1994) has had a scandalous start to the year. At the beginning of January he won the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, the first event on the PGA circuit, after a historic seven-stroke comeback. The best of his career. And at the end of the same month, the golfer from Barrika did the same in the American Express that takes place in California. This time being dominant from the beginning and showing an enviable regularity. Was his ninth PGA title, equaling the great Seve Ballesteros, the culprit of his profession: “I have already said many times that if I play golf it is because of Seve. Not because of the admiration I feel, because my little father got hooked on this sport after the 1997 Ryder in which Seve was the captain”. Now, In this 2023, Rahm is being the rival to beat because his streak extends beyond the grapes. In fact, the Biscayan golfer is the most fit golfer on the international scene after winning four of the last seven championships he has played, having to go back to October of last year to find the beginning of this good dynamic. For all this, the Biscayan deservedly wins the DEIA award for Best Athlete of 2022.
And that the one from Barrika did not start last year on the right foot. He was number one in the PGA ranking, in which he has already won seven consecutive seasons winning at least one title; but at the gates of the Augusta Masters, the first major of the season, he lost his leadership in favor of the American Scottie Scheffler. Then, things stopped going the way Rahm wanted, his card got worse and he ended up without real options in three of the four Majors. He had a respite in May, when he won the Mexican Open, his first title of the year, and recovered his good feelings after a few difficult weeks. “I knew that my golf was improving, and that I was seeing results and this week I have shown it. It’s been quite a stressful weekend.”he said with the trophy in hand. From there, Rahm’s golf went up, but it was not until the end of 2022 that it finally exploded.
In this way, in October he took his third Spanish Open, where he really had no rival at the height. Six shots ahead and the all-time record in the tournament (259 total and -25 under par) attested to this. “There is no more fun week than this, I still can’t believe the lap I’ve done”, admitted Rahm already as champion. The Biscayan golfer took a mass bath at the Villa de Madrid Country Club, but it is that a month later, in November, he also raised passions in the United Arab Emirates. There, the barrikarra won the World Championship in Dubai, the final tournament on the European circuit, with a -20 card and two shots from his closest opponents despite his problems with the driver. “I hope this win helps people recognize that I’ve had a good year”, were his first words after this victory. Because Rahm has a good year even when it seems not. Even when it seems that nothing comes out of it, the barrikarra returns to the mud to stir and resurface.
For this reason, the one from DEIA has not been the only recognition that Rahm has received since the golfer is already a Bizkaitar Argia after receiving from the hands of Unai Rementeria, Deputy General of Bizkaia, the award that accredits him as illustrious. In short, in 2023 the takeoff of Rahm begins, in a season in which the big four have been marked in red. It is the terrain of reconquest after winning the US Open in 2021 and being out of the top ten in every season of the Grand Slam in 2022.
