Jon Rahm says he’ll push LIV to have links event ahead of future Opens – Australian Golf Digest

by Admin
July 24, 2024

In the days after his tie for seventh in last week’s Open Championship at Troon, and before he arrived in the Midlands of England for LIV Golf’s UK tournament this week, two-time major winner Jon Rahm thought long and hard about what would give him a better chance to win an Open played on a links course. He decided he will eventually put forward to LIV’s management the idea of having a links event held prior to future Opens.

“I would hope so; I’m pushing for it,” Rahm told Australian Golf Digest on Tuesday at JCB Golf & Country Club. “There’s so much that goes into adjusting to links golf; getting used to the greens and the ball reacting on the ground. I didn’t think about it until after [Troon], but it’s undeniable how much it helps to play a links golf course the week before the Open.”

PGA Tour and DP World Tour players, of course, get that opportunity if they choose to play in the Genesis Scottish Open before the British Open.

Rahm, 29, acknowledged a links event won’t happen in 2025, but wanted to explore the possibility of it being a part of LIV’s not-too-distant future.

“Obviously, LIV management have contracts in place with some venues and plans in the future,” he said. “It’s not as easy as it sounds to just say, ‘Well, let’s do this.’ [But] it’d be something I would like to talk to other players [on LIV] about because that way, there’s strength in numbers if five, six or 10 solid players [all agree]. I think a lot of people might agree with it.”

It certainly wouldn’t hurt the preparation of LIV golfers for the UK major. The Saudi Arabia-funded circuit staged an event at Valderrama in Spain the week before Troon, which offered a completely different test. And, still, LIV player fared decently. Of the 18 to tee up in the Open, 11 made the cut. Three finished in the top 10: Rahm, John Catlin (T-16, two over) and Dean Burmester (T-19, three over).

The question is, if LIV thought it was a possibility, where could the 54-hole league stage a tournament from 2026 or beyond? With the Scottish Open coming the week prior to the Open, and LIV Golf already having an annual tournament in England, Ireland or Wales seem the only option. There is likely a larger opportunity for LIV in Ireland, given the DP World Tour’s Irish Open doesn’t always go to links layouts. It will in September this year, at the celebrated Royal County Down in Northern Ireland, but it has been four years since the championship was held on a links. The past four Irish Opens have gone to The K Club, Mount Juliet, and Galgorm Castle – all lush, green parkland resort courses.

As a two-time winner of the Irish Open on links layouts, Rahm said he’d welcome a LIV event in the Emerald Isle.

“You’re preaching to the choir; I love Ireland,” Rahm said, when the country was suggested likely the best option for the above reasons. “I’ve always felt really welcome in Ireland. It feels like home and some of the most fun rounds of golf I’ve ever played are there and there are some great venues. So yeah, if there was an opportunity for LIV Golf to play in Ireland it would be absolutely fantastic.”

Rahm wants to win an Open Championship, desperately. Aside from the obvious reasons why—it’d be a third major title and would put him within a PGA Championship win of the career grand slam—there’s a more sentimental inspiration.

“I want to win the Open and a lot of Spanish people want to see me win it because no [Spaniard] since Seve has been able to do it,” he said.

Indeed, no Spaniard has won the Open since Ballesteros lifted his third claret jug at Royal Lytham in 1988. “That’s surprising given how good some our Spanish players have been. Both Ollie [Jose Maria Olazabal] and Sergio [Garcia] have had success on links golf courses outside the Open; Ollie won the Irish Open on a links course [1990 at Portmarnock in Dublin] and Sergio won the Boys Amateur Championship and has two career runner-up results at the Open Championship].”

Rahm, the 2021 US Open champion at Torrey Pines and last year’s Masters winner, has been trending towards a serious shot at winning a claret jug. He was T-11 at Portrush in 2019, T-3 and four shots back of Collin Morikawa at Royal St George’s in 2021, strangely lackluster during a T-34 at St. Andrews in 2022, and was T2 to Brian Harman at Royal Liverpool last year. He was T7 at Troon last week.

“I love links golf and the Open and I’m looking forward to giving myself a better chance,” he said.