Tuesday, October 22, 2024, 00:17
Jon Rahm‘s sixth place in the Andalusia Masters will be his last result of a turbulent year, except as a surprise. He has the right to compete in one more tournament, the finals of the European circuit that will be held from November 14 to 17 in Dubai, but his remote chances of winning – he has only played three tournaments on the DP World Tour – are a reason to keep in mind. account for his absence. Until when? Possibly until mid-January, when the Hero Dubai Desert Classic takes place. In this way, as the curtain comes down on the season, it is time to take stock.
To start analyzing Rahm’s performance you have to go back to December. Two weeks after finishing fifth in the European circuit finals, the Biscayan announced his signing for LIV. The sporting consequences were clear: expulsion from the PGA Tour and suspension from the DP World Tour, the latter now in court, which has granted him a precautionary measure so that he can play tournaments like the recent one in Sotogrande. The ‘Lion of Barrika’ not only jumped into the pool to sign one of the biggest contracts in the history of sports, but he took the step because he was guaranteed to compete in the four majors: he can play in Augusta for life and the US Open until 2031 – when ten years have passed since its conquest –, while the PGA Championship and the British Open can be played until 2026 while an agreement is reached with the LIV. Meanwhile, his decline in the world ranking continues: his new routine does not award points. He was third, now fourteenth.
Extra-sports issues have marked Rahm’s course. In each public appearance he has been forced to answer questions about the expected agreement between the Americans and the Saudis, currently on standby although with signs of prospering. In this hectic context, the double major winner has moved after a decision that raised blisters among those colleagues who remain faithful to traditional golf.
He faced the Masters with just five LIV tournaments played, all of them without cuts and in three days. Whoever puts on the green jacket in 2023 has never played less to prepare for a ‘major’. And he suffered until the last moment to make the cut in the golf temple of Georgia, a level he did not surpass in the next big event, the PGA Championship. “It’s the first time that it’s happened to me that I come playing well and things don’t work out,” the Biscayan lamented to EL CORREO in Kentucky. In between, he chained seven LIV tournaments in the top ten, but in none of them could he fight for victory.
His future at Ryder
His continuity in the Saudi circuit has been the positive part of the year. He won two of the last events in the United Kingdom and Chicago, the latter to overtake Niemann in the general standings and win the league. But for a voracious champion like him, the bitter taste left by the big events weighs more in the balance. He was unable to play the US Open due to injury and he performed at the British Open with a seventh place at Royal Troon which, together with his first title at the LIV, invited him to dream of gold in Paris. But everything went to waste on the last day. “It’s going to take me time to get over today,” he said, hurt by having left without gold or a medal.
Once the LIV was over, he faced a European mini-tour that was essential for his future competition in the Ryder Cup. To be in New York next year, he had to play, in addition to the Games, three more tournaments on the European circuit. He appealed the sanction and signed up for the Spanish Open in Madrid, the Alfred Dunhill in Scotland and the Andalusia Masters. Only in the first was he able to fight for victory, but he lost in the tiebreaker with a surprising Ángel Hidalgo. Since his last appearance in Cádiz, he evaluated his year like this: «I think it has been good, with two victories and the general classification of the LIV. The downside has been the big ones,” acknowledged a player who wants to hit the table in 2025.
