Jon Rahm: “I want to play with Sergio the Ryder but it doesn’t look good…”

Fifteen minutes of teams with the new winner of the Tournament of Champions two weeks ago in Maui (Hawaii), the inaugural event of 2023 on the PGA Tour. Jon Rahm spoke to several Spanish media Wednesday, including Mundo Deportivo, from La Quinta, California, where American Express has been playing since Thursday. His presence in the so-called Desert Classic, a tournament that held its first edition in 1960 and in which Arnold Palmer won five times, was one of the attractions of the tournament.

It should be remembered that the new season of the PGA Tour has changed significantly in the ‘elevated’ tournaments, those with prizes of 20 million dollars and with the promise of participation of the best players on the American circuit, including Jon. . “One less headache, for someone like me it makes it easier for us to make the calendar,” Biscayan said.

American Express is not a ‘raised’, its prize pool is 8 million dollars, and for many years it carried the name of Bob Hope. However, five of the top seven in the world rankings did, as did eight of the top 15. In addition to Rahm, they play Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Will Zalatoris, and Tony FinauBesides others.

This is Rahm’s record-breaking fifth tournament appearance. He won in 2018, when it was still called the CareerBuilder Challenge. On the other four occasions he finished 34th (2017), 6th (2019) and 14th (2022). The tournament is uniquely played in a Pro Am format (156 professionals and 156 novices) and is held on three fields: La Quinta Country Club, Nicklaus Tournament Course and Pete Dye Stadium Course.

In contact with the Barrika native, Mundo Deportivo asked him about Ryder Cup (in Rome, in September), the possibility (very difficult) to duet again with his friend Sergio Garcia and if she has been in contact in recent weeks/months with the man from Castellón.

“Of course I talked to Sergio, of course, we keep in touch. For me the Ryder is not the PGA Tour against LIV Golf but Europe against the USA. Period. And I want both teams to have best players in their teams “Of course I want to play with Sergio again and I told captain Luke Donald so. If he can finally play with Luke, combine the four doubles matches, here we go, both heads up, and Sergio thinks the same. But what will happen is out of my hands,” said a very sincere and open Jon.

“The European Tour already knows what I think about this conflict, Luke too, I hope we can do it but things don’t look good, especially when I saw that the circuit congratulated a player who had a birthday on January 10 and no. congratulate in the account from the Ryder to Sergio who turned 43 the day before. It seems that without it being official they have turned the page on a new future. And it’s a shame”.

In line with this question, Jon also gave his opinion on Augusta’s decision to allow the ‘dissidents’ who won the invitation to the first ‘major’ of 2023 to play. “The Masters? I was clear that the Grand Slams They were’ I will not get involved in this mess, especially the complaint against the PGA Tour by LIV Golf. I never doubted that the ‘bigs’ would let the mules at LIV Golf to play. The ‘majors’ are on another page . . .And I agree that they let them play, they have deserved it”.

Regarding the next Grand Slam that he wants to add to his list of great achievements, he assured: “I don’t care who comes, I won’t ask too much of myself, but I have a certain internal conflict: as fourth that Spaniard who won the Masters, the second since Txema to repeat the same ‘major’, and he is certainly the first Spaniard to win the PGA. It’s complicated, but being the first to win the two ‘majors’ that we didn’t win will be incredible. Let’s see, Nadal has used us, it doesn’t happen in golf, but I want to give myself options with all four”.

TV’s treatment of contests

Regarding the calendar, he said that “until the Mexico Open (end of April) it’s non-stop. I’ll take a few weeks off to deal properly with the second part of the season. It doesn’t change compared to previous years. I’m fine, with confidence in my swing, more fluid, with good sensations, let’s see if we can continue like this for the rest of the year”, he added.

He also said he wants to join “a certain list of darlings, shall we say, on tour: Rory (McIlroy), Jordan (Spieth) and Justin (Thomas)” when it comes to TV. “I want to be on the favorites list on television the weeks I play. There’s no telling if I’m getting better or worse treatment from the circuit, the only thing is to keep working to win and that’s it. Respect do they treat me and how do they treat me? I don’t know how to tell you, if you ask me this question, I think no. I’m not American. That’s all I can say. But if I won two big ones, nothing they have no choice but to show me more often on TV.”