Spaniard is seeking a hat-trick of Irish Open titles
If LIV’s Jon Rahm dances his way between the dunes and bunkers at Doonbeg as deftly as he dodges questions about his future, he has a third Irish Open title in the bag.
Bobbing and weaving like Urtain — the Basque José Manuel Ibar Azpiazu who became EBU heavyweight champion in 1970 and 1971 — the two-time Irish Open winner would not be pinned on the ropes about his future with the breakaway circuit.
Amid reports from the Financial Times that LIV Golf is looking to file for bankruptcy protection in the wake of Saudi Arabia’s PIF pulling its funding, leaving CEO Scott O’Neil scrambling to find backers to LIV Golf 2.0, the Spanish star was giving little away as wind and rain, mixed with occasional sunny spells, kept the players on their toes in west Clare.
“No update since Indianapolis,” the former US Open and Masters champion replied when asked what 2027 holds for him and LIV.
Later, speaking to TV and radio reporters outside the press tent, he asked for a definition of “bankruptcy protection” and reiterated his mantra that all that matters is the present.
“Right now, I’m trying to play golf while I’m here, and whatever the future holds, the future holds,” he said.
While most insiders believe Rahm is unwilling to play a watered-down version of LIV in 2027 even with around half of his estimated $300m-350m (€258m-301m) contract remaining to be paid, it stands to reason to assume the entire fair is a distraction.
“Yes and no,” he said. “A lot is going on outside the game always, certainly, the last four or five years, and the one good thing is when I step on the golf course, none of that matters.
“And for the next four or five hours, all you have to do is just play golf. So on the golf course, it shouldn’t matter. Off the golf course, yeah. But I think at a certain level, we all get pretty used to dealing with some things outside the golf course.
“To be fair, for us people that joined LIV, we’ve got pretty good at dealing with turbulence.”
The PGA Tour has made it clear that the road back will be no walk in the park, but when asked if he would like to see a pathway back, he said: “Well, I still have a contract with LIV at this point that I’m more than willing to fulfil.”
Will he go back?
“We’ll see what happens,” he said.
Whatever the truth of that statement, it’s clear that he enjoys Ireland. Having won the Irish Open at Portstewart in 2017 and then come from seven shots behind at halfway to win at Lahinch in 2019 with weekend rounds of 64 and 62, he can join Bernhard Langer, Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie and compatriot Seve Ballesteros as another three-time Irish Open winner this week.
“I don’t know what it is about Irish people, but every time I come they make me feel like I’m at home, so it’s always really fun,” he said.
“The first one [at Portstewart], being my first ever DP World Tour victory, is always going to be the most special…
“Any time you have a large lead going down 18 knowing that you’ve won, it’s a phenomenal feeling.”
He added: “As golf destinations go, if anybody ever asks me, I always say, if you can go to Ireland for 10 days, very few 10 days are going to be better than that… the week in general, the food, the people, the atmosphere, the golf, hard to beat.”
His teammate at Legion XIII, Tyrrell Hatton, had already played Doonbeg on a golf trip with friends and enjoyed the course, which made it easier for Rahm to return this week, seven years after his win at Lahinch.
“If you know Tyrrell, him giving anything high praise means that it’s really, really good.”
As for West Clare, it’s clearly a place that holds fond memories.
“I thought Lahinch was a lovely town, really a lot of fun,” he said. “A great golf course where a lot of people turned up. A golf course that was really fun to play. Very unusual. Some iconic holes that have been, if I’m not mistaken, have not been really changed since old Tom Morris designed it over 120 years ago.”
He managed only a few holes in two rain-interrupted stints on Monday before heading out with Legion XIII teammates Hatton and Tom McKibbin and Roscommon’s Thomas Higgins on his second day on site.
Newtownabbey man McKibbin is clearly a player Rahm sees as someone with a big future.
“He’s a fantastic golfer and a great young man,” Rahm said. “I’m always very impressed by his composure. He always has a smile on his face. He’s always happy. He’s always content. It’s very difficult to rattle him and throw him off balance.
“He’s got great technique and a great golf game. It’s a joy to watch him play golf. Every time we’re on the range warming up together I always go up to his caddie, Rickie [McCormick] and I tell him, does he ever get bored of watching the same shot over and over and over, because he really doesn’t miss. I mean, it’s a one-way draw every single time. Beautiful swing and beautiful ball flight.”
“Yeah, he’s got all the tools to win a Major, and I hope he does some day. Technically, very few people are better than him at swinging the golf club.”
And the Ryder Cup?
“As an Irishman, it’ll be fantastic to have somebody like him on the team, not only because of how good he is at golf and how good he could be for the team, but also because having the home crowd behind him would be very, very special.
“So I think he could have a chance, but obviously saying it and thinking of what he could do is very different from actually getting it done. So we have a long year ahead.”