Jon Rahm, the new european star !?!
While Tiger Woods made his comeback on the PGA Tour, a Spaniard, Jon Rahm (i.e. Jon is the first name John in Basque) has won the CarrerBuilder Open. This Spanish golfer is no longer really unknown; he has already won twice on the European Tour and on the PGA Tour. He first got his fame on the PGA Tour.
Who he really is? Is it a pure product of European training? How did he come so quickly to the front of the stage?
“BARRIKA” THE CRADLE OF THE FUTURE KING
Barrika, a small town located about twenty kilometers north of Bilbao, is the cradle of this great promise of Spanish golf over the last decade. Jon Rahm Rodriguez was born there on November 10, 1994, his shoulders have aroused unusual expectations since he took a golf club to Neguri, his second home.
He was quickly spotted in the various youth teams. “He looks like Seve”, said his coaches …
His family (his brother Eriz and his father Edorta) began to take an interest in golf with the Ryder Cup (1997) which took place in Valderrama. It could give ideas to the French federation … Yes, it is the success of the French Ryder-Cup that will generate vocations, desires, dreams … among French and French children!!
The Rahm family has always loved sports, especially football (as a matter of course) and athletics. But they never really hung on golf. Jon’s father was even almost reluctant to recognize or give importance to the young prodigy’s golfing talents. But, one day, while the grandfather was accompanying the boys to a tournament of a Spanish Cadet Championship, he had to make a call to the Dad to say “Hey, Jon will beat everyone” he warned. Annunciation of the golfing genius!
John will then head to Madrid to perfect his learning of golf, which he says fell in love at 13 years old, and then fly to the University of Arizona …
THE BIRTH OF THE CHAMPION
The state of Arizona and his famous Sun Devils golf team, will quickly understand who is the young Basque … To get an idea where the boy fell, you should know that the team Sun Devils has the longest tradition in the history of American university golf, where almost all the major figures of this sport have been trained in recent decades. A highly competitive world, where the Basque has adapted to perfection thanks to its mind, its effective swing and its build, which can intimidate on the departures …
Tim Mickelson has been at the helm of this team for several years now. And Phil (Tim’s brother, so) is Jon’s idol …
Quickly, the performance of the Basque will attract the eyes of the whole world. Indeed, he will win 11 university tournaments, which is the second university record after Phil Mickelson (16 wins) !!
He came in the professional world by attending the WManagement Open in Phoenix in 2015 where he finished 5th. Only 3 strokes from the winner (a certain Brooks Koepka). On the first of April 2015, Jon Rahm became the 28th player to become №1 World Amateur (Amateur World Golf Ranking). In total, he will remain 60 weeks at this place and this is the record of longevity in the amateur world. Finally, in 2015, he will reach the quarter-finals of the US Open Amateur.
In addition, he is the only amateur to have won as many prestigious awards as:
- Mark H McCormack Medal in 2015 awarded by The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews to the best amateur player after the last tournament of the year. He is the only Spanish player to win this award, which gives a direct qualification to the British Open and the US Open;
- Ben Hogan Award, won in 2015 and 2016 which rewards the best university player. He is the only amateur player to win this award twice: “To be the first guy to repeat makes it a magical night” (source thesundevils.com). for it to turn out to be someone like me, from a small town in Spain, to be the first one to such a thing is definitely very important and very special “;
- In 2016, he is the only amateur to play in the US Open at Oakmont Country Club. He finished the tournament by being 7 over par (76, 69, 72, 70) at the 23rd place: “It was a great feeling to just make the cut weekend“,he said” I was really feeling it. “I was hitting the ball great, but Oakmont — you can not get too cocky, because it’s going to get you I made a couple bogeys I would like to say that I’m going to have a lot of fun doing that. . “
THE CONFIRMATION
It was just after his performance, as an amateur, at the US Open (2016) that Jon Rahm went professional. He then participated in his first professional tournament (on the PGA Tour), Quickens Loans National. He will be leading this tournament in the first two rounds and finish third behind winner Bill Hurley III. Some time later, he will finish second in the RBC Canadian Open which will allow him to get his card on the PGA Tour.
Then, the media confirmation came with the incredible putt during his victory at the Farmer Insurance Open :
Therefore, he moved from 137th place to 46th place in the world ranking. It gave him direct access to the major tournaments (The Masters, The Players Championship, US Open, The Open …).
Then, it will confirm the expectations generated by its excellent results, both on the American and European tours:
- March 2, Rahm plays his first World Golf Championships (WGC) at the WGC-Mexico Championship in which he will finish in 3rd place (67–70–67–68) (-12) two strokes behind the winner Dustin Johnson;
- Rahm will play 3 weeks later his second WGC, the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, in which he found Dustin Johnson in the final match. In this final, Rahm was 5-down after 8 holes, but wins holes 9, 10, 13, 15, and 16 to be only 1-down when arriving at 18. Both players make the par on the last hole and Dustin Johnson wins the tournament. But Rahm, at the end of this tournament, will reach 14th place in the world ranking.
- For his first Masters, he will finish at 27th place and finish fourth in the Wells Fargo Championship ….
The list is still long (10th at the French Open, victory at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open with 6 shots in advance) … In short, an exceptional 2017 season, Rahm will finish at the end of the regular season in the 6th place of the FedEx Race ranking. He will make, in the four Playoff events of the FedEx final, four Top 10 !! Finally, he will finish 5th in the final ranking of the FedEx.
On the European Tour, beyond these two victories, he is named best “Rookie” of the year … But it is not without making problems with some members of the European Tour. Indeed, apart from the majors and the WGC, Rahm has just played four tournaments of the regular season of the European Tour.
THE GUY
The guy was introduced to golf on European lands and completed his training in the USA. Therefore, it is logical that its notoriety was first developed in the US and not in Europe. Beyond this rapid hatching and his certain talent, the man is more than interesting.
He showed that he knew how to manage success and stay calm in moments of maximum tension, an aspect he admitted to having worked very precisely in recent years.
After making the jump to professionalism, at the 2015 Phoenix Open Waste Management, he showed a certain sensitivity. Rahm has not only finished a spectacular fifth place and with a certain charisma. Indeed, he came to the famous 16 at Scottsdale ( WM in Phoenix in 2015) wearing an Arizona State Team jersey with number 42, a tribute to Pat Tillman, his former teammate from the university who died in Afghanistan after joining the army voluntarily.
On the first hole of a PGA Tour or European Tour tournament you will always hear the same thing: “Jon Rham from Barrika”. “That’s what I say when I go to hole 1. Normally, when you show up, they mention the city where you live. And I live in Phoenix, Arizona, but I’m from Barrika. They do not know where it is, but I come from Barrika, “proclaimed the 22-year-old golfer. “In life, you will never forget where you come from.” he says.
Jon Rham is a diamond of international sport. Due to its success, the Basque team, an organization that channels the Basque government’s support to local elite sport, has signed an image contract to act as Euskadi’s “ambassador” to the world. . Rham has donated, 9,000 euros, so that the Basque team is dedicated to the development of golf or other minority disciplines. This is an agreement he says “proud” when he officially introduced him to Getxo’s High Performance Center. This is a similar contract that the Autonomous Administration signed with surfers Letizia Canales, Asier Muniain and Aritz Aranburu.
Rham does not hide the fact that one of his goals is to be a medalist at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. “It’s the most important thing an athlete can aspire to,” he says.
The Golfiest
