Jon Rahm hasn’t been same since jump to LIV Golf

TROON, Scotland — They’ve gone their separate ways, and it’s a shame for the game.

Because not long ago, it looked like the sport was in store for one hell of a rivalry between Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler.

Rahm was fluctuating from No. 1 to No. 2 in the world, flip-flopping with Scheffler, when he took the Saudi money and fled to LIV Golf in December 2023.

Since then, it has seemed like Rahm, once the face of the PGA Tour, has disappeared into witness protection.

Scheffler, meanwhile, has won, won and won some more, further cementing himself as the No. 1-ranked player in the world in a dominant manner not seen in the nearly 14 years since Tiger Woods was dusting the rest of the field and distancing himself from the competition.

Rahm won four times in the 2022-23 season, including the Masters. Then he left for LIV, and hasn’t won a golf tournament since.

He’s played two events on the PGA Tour this year, tying for 45th at the Masters and missing the cut at the PGA Championship, before withdrawing ahead of the U.S. Open last month with an infection in his foot.

Scheffler?

He has six wins in 2024, including a second Masters title and a second consecutive Players Championship.

Understandably, entering this week’s British Open at Royal Troon, Scheffler is a heavy favorite and Rahm is bordering on an afterthought.

“Last year from Masters on, I didn’t really play my best,” Rahm said Tuesday. “I didn’t feel at my best up until Ryder Cup. Ryder Cup was the only resemblance to maybe the early part of the year. This year, the first half hasn’t been my best.

“But Nashville and last week [in Spain, both LIV events where he finished fourth and 10th, respectively], I felt closer to getting to a higher level of golf where maybe there isn’t as many thoughts on my process. Maybe I’m playing a little bit more freely and seeing the ball flight that I want to see more often.

“Yeah, I’m getting much closer to what it might have been early last year.”

This week will provide a proper litmus test as to how far apart Rahm is from Scheffler.

“I’ve talked to Jon a little bit [and] obviously he’s very disappointed with his major championship performance,” European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald said. “The first two were certainly not up to his standard. Then obviously the unfortunate timing of the injury [at the U.S. Open].

“I think it’s a big week for him. It, I’m sure, has been a massive focus for him to try and get his game to a level where he’s going to be back in contention at a major. Yeah, I think there’s a little bit of pressure on that, and we’ll see how he deals with it.”

Brad Faxon said he was with Rory McIlroy, whom he helps with his putting, when Rahm was making the decision to go to LIV and texting back and forth with McIlroy about it.

“I think it was a really hard decision for Jon Rahm — this pile of money versus leaving a Tour you’ve been very successful and comfortable on,” Faxon said. “When you listen to some of Jon’s comments about how difficult it was to be home in Scottsdale [Ariz.] while the PGA Tour event, the Waste Management was being played and he couldn’t [play in it].

“He also made a comment about one of the events he did play in Saudi Arabia, was hitting a shot, and there was a picture of him hitting a second shot up this hill into a hole and there was virtually no spectators watching a player that used to be the No. 1 player in the world.

“I think he misses that. Couple that with some of the injuries he had, the difference in travel, now around the world versus mostly in the U.S. and Europe for him. I think it’s a big adjustment.”

It’s up to Rahm to show he can handle the adjustment. Otherwise, his decision to jump to LIV will only continue to be scrutinized.

“It’s clear that there have been changes this year,” Rahm said. “But there is a point when you have to get used to certain things. But I am very comfortable with where I am and so keen to keep competing because I know that in a matter of in one moment, in one swing, or one day that changes it all and you may start a streak of good weeks.”

For the good of the game, this week would be a good time for that to happen. Even better if it were he and Scheffler dueling it out late on Sunday the way Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson did the last time the Open was played at Troon, in 2016.