Jon Rahm

Jon Rahm Rodriguez grew up in Barrika, a town of about 1,500 in the Basque country of northern Spain. Got started playing a game in Spain called "Pelota," which in the Western Hemisphere is called Jai-Alai, and helped Rahm pick up his excellent hand-eye coordination. At 13, he began working on his distinctive full swing with Spanish golf coach Eduardo Celles. As a junior, he won titles with aggressive and creative play, such as hitting a 4-iron over water at the last hole of an event with no thought of laying up. It's hardly surprising Rahm drew comparisons with Seve Ballesteros. He never saw Ballesteros play but met him once. "I was too young to appreciate who I was shaking hands with," he said of Ballesteros, who passed away in 2011. "Obviously, I grew up on Tiger (Woods) and Phil (Mickelson), respecting and admiring both players for what they've done. But my idol it's always been Seve. I try to emulate what he inspired on the golf course."
While growing up, Rahm realized he was given a good body for golf success, and he was always eager to be the best and studied to be the best by watching videos of all the great players, from Hogan to Nicklaus to Seve to Trevino so that he could be the most successful player.
Rahm has the same integrity. At age 16, he was runner-up at the European Boys Championship in Stockholm. When he returned to his room, he discovered he had played the final round with 15 clubs in his bag rather than the permitted maximum of 14. Despite being the only person who knew, he didn't hesitate to inform his coach and was disqualified from the championship.
Rahm was offered a scholarship at Arizona State due mainly to his reputation, and he accepted the offer from then-coach Tim Mickelson. At 17, he was off to America, a country he had never visited and where he struggled with English. Initially, it was tough, but after working hard for several months, his grasp of the language and all aspects of his life improved.
When Rahm graduated in May 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts in communications, he had an incredible college record and was No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. He won 11 times as a Sun Devil, the second-most in school history, five wins behind Phil Mickelson. In 12 tournaments in 2016, Rahm finished inside the top 10 in all of them. His collegiate wins included the 2016 NCAA Albuquerque Regional, the 2016 Pac-12 Championship, the 2015 NCAA San Diego Regional, and the ASU Thunderbird Invitational (three times). He became the first player in history to receive the Ben Hogan Award twice, in 2015 and '16, given to the top collegiate golfer. He also was honored with the 2015 McCormack Medal, awarded to the No. 1-ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. He was a four-time All-Pac-12 selection, earning first-team honors in his sophomore, junior and senior seasons. He was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year in 2013.
Another critical aspect of moving to America, he was introduced to Dave Phillips, who not only is a teaching professional but he was the co-founder of the Titleist Performance Center. The two have been together since Rahm was 17. When they first met, Phillips helped Rahm make some changes, and basically, Rahm hasn't made any swing changes since. Phillips has helped him build his swing around his body's strengths and weaknesses. One of those weaknesses stems from when he was born with a club foot on his right leg. That means his right leg down to the ankle was straight, but his foot was 90 degrees turned inside and upside down. So when Rahm was born, doctors relocated, pretty much broke every bone in the ankle, and Rahm was cast within 20 minutes. Every week he had to go back to the hospital to get a recast so his leg didn't grow at the same rate from the knee down. He had minimal ankle mobility in his right leg. It's a centimeter and a half shorter, as well. He doesn't take a full swing because his right ankle doesn't have the mobility or stability to take it. To compensate, he has learned to turn to bow his wrist to help him create power in his swing. Phillips was a great help in perfecting that move, and Rham hasn't had to change anything in almost a decade.
Rahm's success translated into an amateur competition as well. He won consecutive Spanish Amateurs in 2014 and '15. In 2014, he reached match play at the British Amateur, won the decisive point for the Europeans at the Palmer Cup, and pushed Spain to a European Team championship. He set the record for the lowest individual score at the World Amateur Team Championship in Japan in 2014, breaking the mark held since 1960 by Jack Nicklaus. Rahm shot 23-under-par 263, besting Nicklaus' 72-hole total of 269. At the 2015 U.S. Amateur, Rahm reached the quarterfinals before losing to runner-up Derek Bard. He reached the round of 32 at the 2014 U.S. Amateur.
Rahm's first PGA Tour event was at the 2014 OHL Classic at Mayakoba, where he missed the cut. His next start at the 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open resulted in a T-5th, making him the first amateur to finish in the top-five of a PGA Tour event since Chris Wood finished T-5th at the 2008 British Open. It was the first time an amateur finished in the top five of an American PGA Tour event since Phil Mickelson won the 1991 Chrysler Classic of Tucson. After Phoenix in 2015, Rahm finished T-64th at the Travelers Championship and T-10th at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba.
2016 Notes: Still an amateur, he finished T-10th at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba on the PGA Tour. He completed his senior year at Arizona State by winning the Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year award and became the first two-time recipient of the Ben Hogan Award. Rahm finished T-3rd at the NCAA individual Championship, as his Arizona State team didn't make it to the finals. After graduating, he played as an amateur one last time at the U.S. Open, finishing T-23rd. The next week, he turned professional and finished T-3rd at the Quicken Loans National while playing on a sponsor exemption, four shots behind winner Billy Hurley III. His Quicken Loans finish secured a spot at the British Open at Royal Troon, where he placed T-59th. The next week on another sponsor exemption, he finished T-2nd at the RBC Canadian Open, one stroke behind winner Jhonattan Vegas. That result provided enough FedExCup points in his fourth start as a professional to gain membership on the PGA Tour. Rahm finished the year T-8th at the ISPS Handa World Cup with teammate Rafa Cabrera Bello on the Spanish team at Kingston Heath Golf Club in Australia.
2017 Notes: Made the cut in his first four events of the year, and at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, won with a final-day 65. He made four birdies and two eagles in the closing round, one of the eagles coming at the final hole, where he drained a 60-foot, 8-inch putt for the win. Making his first start at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, he followed an opening-round 73 at Spyglass Hill with rounds of 67-67-68 to finish T-5th, seven shots behind champion Jordan Spieth. In his first start at a World Golf Championships event, he reached 14 under par. He held the solo lead in the final round of the WGC-Mexico Championship for a short time after beginning the second nine with par-eagle-par-par-birdie-birdie. Missed seven-foot and eight-foot putts at holes 16 and 17 for bogeys resulted in a T-3rd finish, two behind winner Dustin Johnson. At the WGC-Dell Match Play, he won his first six matches, reaching the final against Dustin Johnson. In that match, Johnson jumped out to a 4-up lead with six holes left. Rahm made birdies on three of them to lower the deficit to one hole, but Johnson halved holes 17 and 18 for the 1-up victory. After finishing T-10th at the Shell Houston Open, Rahm climbed to 12th in the Official World Golf Ranking in his 40th week as a professional, the fastest since Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods. He finished 4th at the Wells Fargo Championship and, with his T-2nd result at the Charles Schwab Challenge, reached 9th place in the world ranking, making him the 100th player to reach top-10 status since the rankings first started in 1986. He finished T-10th at the French Open, his first European Tour event. In his next start, he won the Irish Open by six strokes. He advanced through all four FedExCup playoff events, where he finished no worse than 7th in any of them (T-3rd Northern Trust, T-4th Dell Technologies Championship, T-5th BMW Championship, and T-7th Tour Championship). Ended the season 5th in the FedExCup standings. He played the rest of the year on the European Tour and won the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, finishing 3rd in the Race to Dubai. He was named Rookie of the Year on the European Tour.
2018 Notes: Played 20 PGA Tour events, making 16 cuts with five top-10 finishes. He was 23rd in the FedExCup standings. Rahm started the year as a runner-up at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and won the American Express two weeks later. Shot an opening-round 62 at La Quinta Country Club, tying his career-low on the PGA Tour (R1/2016, The National). He played bogey-free in the final round en route to a five-under 67, defeating Andrew Landry with a birdie at the fourth extra hole. After finishing 4th at the Masters, four strokes behind winner Patrick Reed, Rahm went home to Spain, where he won his national championship, the Open de Espana, by two strokes over Paul Dunne, closing with rounds of 66-67. I was T-5th at the Fort Worth Invitational. After missing the cut at the U.S. Open for a second consecutive year, he finished T-5th at the French Open, two shots behind winner Alex Noren and T-4th at the Dubai Duty-Free Irish Open, two shots out of the Knox/Fox playoff. He was T-4th at the PGA Championship, five shots behind winner Brooks Koepka. He earned his first spot on the European Ryder Cup team and went 1-2-0, defeating Tiger Woods in the singles, 2 & 1. He attempted to defend his title at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai but finished T-4th, four shots behind winner Danny Willett. He ended his year with a four-stroke win over Tony Finau at the unofficial Hero World Challenge.
2019 Notes: Played in 20 PGA Tour events, making 18 cuts with 12 top-10 finishes. He was 12th on the FedExCup points list. He played in 13 events on the European Tour, making 11 cuts with eight top-10 finishes. He won the Race to Dubai. He finished T-8th at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. In an attempted defense of his 2018 title, he placed 6th at the Desert Classic after opening with back-to-back six-under-par 66s. The following week, he finished T-5th at the Farmers Insurance Open and the week after, T-10th at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. He ended his West Coast swing T-9th at the Genesis Open. Shot a final-round 68 at the Valspar Championship to finish T-6th, five strokes behind winner Paul Casey. He was T-9th at the Masters, finishing just three strokes behind winner Tiger Woods. He teamed with Ryan Palmer to claim his third PGA Tour victory at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. At 26-under 262, they posted a three-stroke win over Sergio Garcia/Tommy Fleetwood. He was T-3rd at the U.S. Open, shooting 68 in the final round, and finished T-2nd at the Estrella Damm Andalucia Masters. At the Dubai Duty-Free Irish Open, he entered the final round five shots off the lead and, in the round, made eight birdies and an eagle for a 62 and a one-shot victory. With the win, he became the first player to win three Rolex Series titles, all in just 34 starts on the European Tour. After finishing T-11th at the British Open, he was 7th at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational after an opening round of 62. In the FedExCup playoffs, he finished T-3rd at the Northern Trust, two strokes behind winner Patrick Reed. The next week, he was T-5th at the BMW Championship, and at the Tour Championship, Rahm shot 68-72-68-72 to finish T-12th to end his PGA Tour season. He was off to the European Tour and, at the BMW PGA Championship, was 2nd, three shots behind winner Danny Willett. After missing the Alfred Dunhill Links cut, he won the Mutuactivos Open de Espana by five shots over Rafael Cabrera Bello. Then he won the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, by a stroke over Tommy Fleetwood. He ended the year 2nd at the unofficial Hero World Challenge, a shot behind winner Henrik Stenson. In December, Rahm married his college sweetheart, Kelley Cahill, in a ceremony in Bilbao, Spain, in the same church his grandmother used to take him to.
2020 Notes: Played in 15 PGA Tour events, making 14 cuts with eight top-10 finishes. Ranked 4th in the FedExCup standings. Started the year 10th at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and 2nd at the Farmers Insurance Open, a stroke behind winner Marc Leishman. Was T-9th at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and T-3rd at the WGC-Mexico Championship, shooting 61-67 over the weekend to finish three strokes behind winner Patrick Reed. After the break, he had a slow start, but things turned around when he shot a final-round 64 in his T-27th finish at the Workday Charity Open. This spilled over as Muirfield Village was used as the venue for a second consecutive week at The Memorial, and Rahm won by two strokes over Ryan Palmer. With the victory, he took over the No. 1 ranking in the Official World Golf Ranking, becoming the 24th player to reach No.1. In the FedExCup playoffs, he finished T-6th at the Northern Trust and won the BMW Championship. At the latter event, Dustin Johnson holed a 43-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to force a sudden-death playoff, but on the first hole of the playoff, Rahm holed a 66-foot birdie putt to win. Rahm's first-round 75 marked the highest first-round score for a winner in a non-major since Mark Calcavecchia shot 75 at the 2007 Valspar Championship. With the win, Rahm moved to 2nd in the FedExCup standings. At the Tour Championship, he finished 4th.
2021 Notes: Played in 22 PGA Tour events making 21 cuts with 15 top-ten finishes. He was 2nd in the FedExCup standings and ended the season 1st in the Official World Golf Ranking. On the DP World Tour, he played in nine events making eight cuts with six top-ten finishes. He was 3rd in the Race to Dubai. Finished T-2nd, a shot behind winner Patrick Cantlay at the Zozo Championship @ Sherwood. With rounds of 69-66 was a 36-hole co-leader at the Masters in November 2020 with Dustin Johnson and three others, but with 72-71 over the weekend finished T-7th, ten shots back of Johnson. He was T-7th at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, five shots back of the Harris English/Joaquin Niemann playoff. He finished T-7th for a third consecutive event at the Farmers Insurance Open. Shot a final-round 66 to finish T-5th at The Genesis Invitational, five shots back of the Max Homa/Tony Finau playoff. He was T-9th at The Players Championship. At the WGC-Dell Technologies Match, Play beat Ryan Palmer to get out of his group. Beat Erik Van Rooyen 3 & 2, but in the quarterfinals, lost to Scottie Scheffler 3 & 1 to finish T-5th. At the Masters shot a final round 66 to finish T-5th, four shots back of winner Hideki Matsuyama. He was 7th at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with partner Ryan Palmer. Rahm missed the cut at Wells Fargo, which ended his streak of 22 straight events over 11 months. He held a six-shot lead after 54 holes in his title defense at the Memorial Tournament but was forced to withdraw after testing positive for COVID-19. After a quarantine, he went to Torrey Pines for the U.S. Open. Shot rounds of 69-70-72-67 and with birdies at 17 and 18 in the final round, claimed his first major championship. The win came in his 108th career PGA Tour start and 20th in a major championship at 26 years, 7 months, 10 days. He became the first player from Spain to win the U.S. Open and the fourth to win a major, joining Seve Ballesteros, Jose Maria Olazabal, and Sergio Garcia. Rahm's final-round 67 matched the low round of the week. There were eleven rounds of 67 shots during the week, and three came in the final round. With the win, he moved back to No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time since August 2020. He was 7th at the Abrdn Scottish Open, two shots back of the Lee/Detry/Fitzpatrick playoff. At The Open Championship at Royal St. George, he finished T-3rd despite shooting a first-round 71. He was 12 under in his last 54 holes and was four back of winner Collin Morikawa. He was supposed to play in the Olympics in Tokyo but tested positive for COVID-19 right before he was supposed to fly to Japan, forcing him to withdraw. At the Northern Trust, he held at least a share of the lead after each of the first three rounds, but he played his last four holes in two overs and finished two shots back of the Finau/Smith playoff. He was T-9th at the BMW Championship. Shot rounds of 65-65-68-68 at the Tour Championship to tie Kevin Na for the lowest 72-hole score but finished a shot back of winner Patrick Cantlay to finish 2nd. He played in his second Ryder Cup and finished with a 3-1-1 record for the week. He lost his singles match against Scottie Scheffler 4 & 3.
2022 Notes: Played in 19 PGA Tour events, making 18 cuts with eight top-ten finishes. He was T-15th in the FedExCup standings, ending the PGA Tour season 6th in the Official World Golf Ranking. He played in nine events on the DP World Tour, making nine cuts with four top-ten finishes. He was 3rd in the Race to Dubai. After taking three months off returned to golf at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and finished 2nd, a shot back of winner Cameron Smith. On his return to Torrey Pines, he finished T3rd at the Farmers Insurance Open, a shot back of the List/Zalatoris playoff. He was T-10th at the Phoenix Open. He was T-9th at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, losing to Brooks Koepka in the Round of 16 after advancing out of group play. He earned his 7th career PGA Tour title at the Mexico Open at Vidanta, a shot better than Kurt Kitayama, Brandon Wu, and Tony Finau. With the win, he has won in his sixth consecutive season on the PGA Tour. The victory came in his 123rd career start at 27 years, 5 months, and 21 days. He held at least a share of the lead after each of the first three rounds and carded a final-round 69. He was T-10th at the Memorial and T-12th at the U.S. Open. In the FedEx Cup playoffs was T-5th at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, four shots back of the Will Zalatoris/Sepp Straka playoff. Shot 65-67 over the weekend to finish T-8th at the BMW Championship, five shots back of winner Patrick Cantlay. He was T-15th at the Tour Championship. Playing on the DP World Tour in the fall was T-2nd at the BMW Championship, a shot back of winner Shane Lowry. He won the Spanish Open by six shots. Rahm shot 64-68-65-62, and his 72-hole total of 259 tied his career mark (with 2022 Sentry T of C) for the lowest personal 72-hole score. He won the season-ending DP World Tour Championship by two shots over Alex Noren and Tyrrell Hatton.
2023 Notes: Played in 20 PGA Tour events, making 18 cuts with ten, top-ten finishes. He was 18th in the FedExCup standings. Held a share of the second-round lead at The CJ Cup in South Carolina and finished T-4th in his PGA Tour season debut. He won the Sentry Tournament of Champions by two shots over Collin Morikawa, earning his eighth PGA Tour victory in his 133rd career start. He entered the final round trailing by seven shots and was still seven down going into the 12th hole. He played his last six holes: birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle-par-par to finish at 265. While Rahm was hot, Morikawa played his last five holes: bogey-bogey-bogey-par-birdie to finish two shots back. Became the first player to win on Tour after finishing runner-up the year prior since Scottie Scheffler at the 2022 World Golf Championships-Dell Match Play. Rahm won his next start at the American Express by a shot over Davis Thompson. Following the victory, he moved to No. 1 in the FedExCup standings for the first time in his career. He was 3rd in the Official World Golf Ranking. His next start at the WM Phoenix Open was 3rd, five shots back of winner Scottie Scheffler. He earned his third victory of the PGA Tour season and fifth worldwide victory in his last nine starts at the Genesis Invitational. He beat Max Homa by two shots; the win came in his 137th start at 28 years, 3 months, and 9 days. With his third win in the seven-event West Coast swing, Rahm became the first player with three wins in the West Coast swing since Johnny Miller won the 1975 Phoenix Open, Tucson Open, and Bob Hope. Rahm also regained the #1 ranking in the Official World Golf Ranking. Shot an opening round 65 to lead at the Arnold Palmer Invitational before closing with scores of 76-76-72 to finish T-39th. It was the first time in 14 worldwide starts going back to his T-34th finish at the British Open that Rahm was not in the top 15. In that stretch, Rahm was in the top ten 12 times and in the top three seven times. He won the Masters by four shots over Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson, earning his 11th win on the PGA Tour and second major championship title. He became the 18th player to win the Masters and the U.S. Open and the only European player to accomplish that feat. He tied Sergio Garcia for the most wins on the PGA Tour by a Spanish-born player (11) and became the third player from Spain with multiple major titles, joining Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazaba. Became the second consecutive winner of the Masters to enter the week 1st in the FedExCup standings. Four shots marked the largest margin of victory in a men's major since Dustin Johnson won the Masters by five shots in 2020. He was T-2nd in defending his title at the Mexico Open, three shots back of winner Tony Finau. He was T-50th at the PGA Championship and T-10th at the U.S. Open. Was T-2nd at the British Open, six shots back of winner Brian Harman. In the playoffs was T-37th at the FedEx St. Jude, T-31st at the BMW Championship and T-18th at the Tour Championship. Played in his third Ryder Cup and had a 2-0-2 record. Halve his singles match with Scottie Scheffler. At the end of the year was 4th at the BMW PGA Championship and T-5th at the DP World Tour Championship.