Jon Rahm, in the ‘fifth’ Grand Slam: At what time, who and where he will follow

Jon Rahm will be this Thursday TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course, in Ponte Vedra Beach (Florida)to the third player facing the considered ‘fifth’ Grand Slam, The Players Championship (TPC) and with 25 million dollars in prizes, as world number one and leader of the FedEx Cup. The former are Dustin Johnson (2017)finishing the tournament tied for 12th, and Tiger Woods on two occasions: 2013 (he ended up winning) and 2007 (tied 37th). Tiger is the great absentee, along with the defending champion cameron smith. Woods finally decided not to register and continue his preparation thinking about the Masters in Augusta and the Australian, for obvious reasons due to his militancy in LIV.

The Basque will play on Thursday and Friday with the American scottie scheffler and the northern irish Rory McIlroy, that is, the top 3 in the world gathered in the same party. Rahm will start this Thursday, March 9 on the morning shift, starting from the 10th tee, at 7.56 local time (13.56 Spanish peninsular time). On Friday, Jon, Scottie and Rory will play in the afternoon shift, starting from the 1st tee at 12:56 pm (6:56 pm in our country). His will be one of the great fights in this great tournament. Others will be played by Collin Morikawan, Adam Scott and Rickie Fowler (7.45 and 12.45); Matthew Fitzpatrick, Viktor Hovland and Shane Lowry (12.34 and 7.34); or Max Homa, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth (12.56 and 7.56).

The tournament can be watched live on the Movistar+ Golf channel, on dial 62 of the Movistar+ payment platform, from 12:45 pm to 3:00 pm in the original version and from 3:00 pm to 12:00 am with narration in Spanish , Thursday and Friday. On weekends, from 1:45 pm to 7:00 pm in the original version and from 7:00 pm to 12:00 am with narration in Spanish (Saturday), and from 12:45 pm to 6:00 pm on VO and from 6:00 pm to 11:00 pm with narration in Spanish (the last day on Sunday).

Rahm posted a best finish at Sawgrass tied for 9th in 2021, has played the TPC five times and posted a stroke average of 72.55. The Basque did not hide that he was especially excited to win this tournament, which would be his fourth win of the season. No one until Jon had won three tournaments before March 1 since Johnnie Miller in 1974. The best results for Spanish golfers at Ponte Vedra Beach were Sergio García’s victory in 2008the 2nd solo from Castellón last year, the runner-up tied in 2015, and the 3rd solo in 2014, and the third ex aequos of Severiano Ballesteros in 1984 and Txema Olazabal in 2007.

Orlando’s tie for 39th last week snapped a streak of six straight top-10 finishes for Rahm on the PGA Tour. It was his worst result since a tie for 55th at the Genesis Scottish Open in July 2022. But Jon arrives at the Stadium Course leading the tour in stroke average this 2023 (68.855), birdie average (5.82), average finish at par 3s (2.82) and top ten finals (6).

Rahm’s previous press conference gave itself away, and the Basque spoke on the one hand about removing the obligation to play the minimum PGA Tour tournaments and the ideal number of events to play each season. “I’m not the only one who thought we were forced to play too many tournaments. I’m the only one who said this to the media. There has to be a give and take between the players and the tour. It can’t be all one-sided . It’s okay if we have to play some of them, but I want to have freedom because there are some unassigned tournaments that we want to play in. For example, I want to go to Torrey Pines and I’ll continue even if I’m not high (assigned) . Not to mention the possible sponsorship commitments that players may have in other tournaments. Having that freedom to continue playing whatever we want, I think it’s necessary for all of us”, said the Biscayan.

Regarding the ideal number of tournaments per year, he emphasized: “I think, in this calendar year, until August, I will play 19, which is exactly what I did last year. I think it is a good number for me. Because I am a professional and join Europe, I have been playing 25, 26 for five, six years. So for me it will be less, which will be fine,” concluded said Rahm.