TROON, Scotland — They’ve gone their separate ways, and it’s a shame for the sport.
Because not way back, it looked just like the sport was in store for one hell of a rivalry between Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler.
Rahm was fluctuating from No. 1 to No. 2 on this planet, flip-flopping with Scheffler, when he took the Saudi money and fled to LIV Golf in December 2023.
Since then, it has gave the impression of Rahm, once the face of the PGA Tour, has disappeared into witness protection.
Scheffler, meanwhile, has won, won and won some more, further cementing himself because the No. 1-ranked player on this planet in a dominant manner not seen within the nearly 14 years since Tiger Woods was dusting the remainder of the sector and distancing himself from the competition.
Rahm won 4 times within the 2022-23 season, including the Masters. Then he left for LIV, and hasn’t won a golf tournament since.
He’s played two events on the PGA Tour this yr, tying for forty fifth on the Masters and missing the cut on the PGA Championship, before withdrawing ahead of the U.S. Open last month with an infection in his foot.
Scheffler?
He has six wins in 2024, including a second Masters title and a second consecutive Players Championship.
Understandably, entering this week’s British Open at Royal Troon, Scheffler is a heavy favorite and Rahm is bordering on an afterthought.
“Last yr from Masters on, I didn’t really play my best,” Rahm said Tuesday. “I didn’t feel at my best up until Ryder Cup. Ryder Cup was the one resemblance to perhaps the early a part of the yr. This yr, the primary half hasn’t been my best.
“But Nashville and last week [in Spain, both LIV events where he finished fourth and 10th, respectively], I felt closer to attending to a better level of golf where perhaps there isn’t as many thoughts on my process. Possibly I’m playing somewhat bit more freely and seeing the ball flight that I would like to see more often.
“Yeah, I’m getting much closer to what it may need been early last yr.”
This week will provide a correct litmus test as to how far apart Rahm is from Scheffler.
“I’ve talked to Jon somewhat bit [and] obviously he’s very disillusioned along with his major championship performance,” European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald said. “The primary two were definitely lower than his standard. Then obviously the unlucky timing of the injury [at the U.S. Open].
“I feel it’s a giant week for him. It, I’m sure, has been an enormous focus for him to try to get his game to a level where he’s going to be back in contention at a significant. Yeah, I feel there’s somewhat little bit of pressure on that, and we’ll see how he deals with it.”
Brad Faxon said he was with Rory McIlroy, whom he helps along with his putting, when Rahm was making the choice to go to LIV and texting backwards and forwards with McIlroy about it.
“I feel it was a extremely hard decision for Jon Rahm — this pile of cash versus leaving a Tour you’ve been very successful and cozy on,” Faxon said. “Whenever you hearken to a few of Jon’s comments about how difficult it was to be home in Scottsdale [Ariz.] while the PGA Tour event, the Waste Management was being played and he couldn’t [play in it].
“He also made a comment about certainly one of the events he did play in Saudi Arabia, was hitting a shot, and there was an image of him hitting a second shot up this hill right into a hole and there was virtually no spectators watching a player that was the No. 1 player on this planet.
“I feel he misses that. Couple that with a few of the injuries he had, the difference in travel, now all over the world versus mostly within the U.S. and Europe for him. I feel it’s a giant adjustment.”
It’s as much as Rahm to point out he can handle the adjustment. Otherwise, his decision to leap to LIV will only proceed to be scrutinized.
“It’s clear that there have been changes this yr,” Rahm said. “But there’s a degree when you have got to get used to certain things. But I’m very comfortable with where I’m and so keen to maintain competing because I do know that in a matter of in a single moment, in a single swing, or at some point that changes all of it and chances are you’ll start a streak of fine weeks.”
For the great of the sport, this week can be a superb time for that to occur. Even higher if it were he and Scheffler dueling it out late on Sunday the way in which Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson did the last time the Open was played at Troon, in 2016.
TROON, Scotland — They’ve gone their separate ways, and it’s a shame for the sport.
Because not way back, it looked just like the sport was in store for one hell of a rivalry between Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler.
Rahm was fluctuating from No. 1 to No. 2 on this planet, flip-flopping with Scheffler, when he took the Saudi money and fled to LIV Golf in December 2023.
Since then, it has gave the impression of Rahm, once the face of the PGA Tour, has disappeared into witness protection.
Scheffler, meanwhile, has won, won and won some more, further cementing himself because the No. 1-ranked player on this planet in a dominant manner not seen within the nearly 14 years since Tiger Woods was dusting the remainder of the sector and distancing himself from the competition.
Rahm won 4 times within the 2022-23 season, including the Masters. Then he left for LIV, and hasn’t won a golf tournament since.
He’s played two events on the PGA Tour this yr, tying for forty fifth on the Masters and missing the cut on the PGA Championship, before withdrawing ahead of the U.S. Open last month with an infection in his foot.
Scheffler?
He has six wins in 2024, including a second Masters title and a second consecutive Players Championship.
Understandably, entering this week’s British Open at Royal Troon, Scheffler is a heavy favorite and Rahm is bordering on an afterthought.
“Last yr from Masters on, I didn’t really play my best,” Rahm said Tuesday. “I didn’t feel at my best up until Ryder Cup. Ryder Cup was the one resemblance to perhaps the early a part of the yr. This yr, the primary half hasn’t been my best.
“But Nashville and last week [in Spain, both LIV events where he finished fourth and 10th, respectively], I felt closer to attending to a better level of golf where perhaps there isn’t as many thoughts on my process. Possibly I’m playing somewhat bit more freely and seeing the ball flight that I would like to see more often.
“Yeah, I’m getting much closer to what it may need been early last yr.”
This week will provide a correct litmus test as to how far apart Rahm is from Scheffler.
“I’ve talked to Jon somewhat bit [and] obviously he’s very disillusioned along with his major championship performance,” European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald said. “The primary two were definitely lower than his standard. Then obviously the unlucky timing of the injury [at the U.S. Open].
“I feel it’s a giant week for him. It, I’m sure, has been an enormous focus for him to try to get his game to a level where he’s going to be back in contention at a significant. Yeah, I feel there’s somewhat little bit of pressure on that, and we’ll see how he deals with it.”
Brad Faxon said he was with Rory McIlroy, whom he helps along with his putting, when Rahm was making the choice to go to LIV and texting backwards and forwards with McIlroy about it.
“I feel it was a extremely hard decision for Jon Rahm — this pile of cash versus leaving a Tour you’ve been very successful and cozy on,” Faxon said. “Whenever you hearken to a few of Jon’s comments about how difficult it was to be home in Scottsdale [Ariz.] while the PGA Tour event, the Waste Management was being played and he couldn’t [play in it].
“He also made a comment about certainly one of the events he did play in Saudi Arabia, was hitting a shot, and there was an image of him hitting a second shot up this hill right into a hole and there was virtually no spectators watching a player that was the No. 1 player on this planet.
“I feel he misses that. Couple that with a few of the injuries he had, the difference in travel, now all over the world versus mostly within the U.S. and Europe for him. I feel it’s a giant adjustment.”
It’s as much as Rahm to point out he can handle the adjustment. Otherwise, his decision to leap to LIV will only proceed to be scrutinized.
“It’s clear that there have been changes this yr,” Rahm said. “But there’s a degree when you have got to get used to certain things. But I’m very comfortable with where I’m and so keen to maintain competing because I do know that in a matter of in a single moment, in a single swing, or at some point that changes all of it and chances are you’ll start a streak of fine weeks.”
For the great of the sport, this week can be a superb time for that to occur. Even higher if it were he and Scheffler dueling it out late on Sunday the way in which Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson did the last time the Open was played at Troon, in 2016.
