Three years have passed since Jon Rahm won a major, the most recent celebration coming at the 2023 Masters when Scottie Scheffler put the green jacket on the Spaniard at Augusta National.
Rahm won the U.S. Open in 2021, and has ties for second at the PGA Championship (2026) and The Open Championship (2023) also high on his resume. While he said he enters The Open on Thursday at Royal Birkdale with plenty of confidence, he knows just how difficult it will be to hoist the Claret Jug on Sunday.
“God, it’s hard. It’s very hard,” Rahm said of winning a major in his pre-tournament news conference on Tuesday in Southport, England.
His attitude is far from defeated, however.
“Confidence is always high,” said Rahm, 31. “I think as a player you have to have that belief in yourself, that things are always going to be good, so feeling good. Very excited to be here.”
Royal Birkdale last hosted The Open in 2017, when Jordan Spieth (12-under) finished three strokes ahead of Matt Kuchar.
The next champion will have different challenges than those Spieth faced. Since then, the course has been re-imagined.
But one challenge remains constant: the wind, which is going to impact club selection.
“It’s one of the venues that I remember as being a fantastic championship venue, historically very difficult one,” Rahm said. “Weather-wise, very unusual week. Looking forward to see what the challenge presents because I think we’re going to see a bit of everything, see 6-irons off tees, drivers and long irons into par-4s. It should be a really fun one.”
Rahm has just one more day to review the course before teeing off Thursday at 5:09 a.m., paired with Spieth and Tommy Fleetwood of England. They follow the star-studded group of Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau and Englishman Tyrrell Hatton.
There will be a lot of eyes on those two groups. Rahm’s eyes will be on factors such as pin placement, the speed of the greens and how the flag whips in the wind.
Rahm, a former World No. 1, now competes in the LIV Golf League and on the DP World Tour. Given those experiences of worldwide travel, he was asked if he’d like to see the PGA Tour add another major abroad.
“I wouldn’t know the logistics of that. I don’t know who can decide what a new major becomes or is now a major, he said. “That would be interesting to see a major happen in other parts of the world, in other continents, I mean. Golf being a global game and as big as it is, it’s something that could be explored for sure.”
