Jon Rahm: “Physically, I’m better than last year”

Everything is ready to Augusta to experience a new week of the best golf and to see the best players on the planet reunited. The four majors of the season will be four oases where there is no room for disagreements between the sides, although the performance of each will give rise to a conversation about the madness that is the current configuration of world golf.

For now, Jon Rahm He monopolizes all the attention as the current champion and, in fact, the organization planned a press conference twice as long … and it is known that Jon speaks a lot and well.

Twelve months have passed since you won the green jacket in this stage. What reflection do you have at that moment?

The step taken for me from winning the US Open at the Masters was bigger than going from not having a major to having a first. I don’t want to offend anyone, but the Masters is the most important tournament in the world… even people who don’t normally follow golf follow it. All the traditions that this tournament has accumulated are huge and make it very special: this fact that it is always the same field, all the history that it has… I keep in my memory the moment where I hugged my father , when I was holding my own son and that moment was very special…

Does having a green jacket in your possession mean something special this year?

The truth is that I keep it in a closet in my house that I go through every day… and of course one day I will take it out, wear it for a while and put it away again… until next time. As for another memorable moment wearing the jacket, when I served in the World Series I was very excited and I just thought not to be silly.

It’s been a few months since you went to LIV golf. Can you review what you missed about golf that you know?

The truth is, I was so focused on everything I had to do that I didn’t really think about it, but it’s true that I miss some venues I want to go to… not just because I won them, but because if what do they mean to me? It wasn’t easy not going to Palm Springs, Torrey, Phoenix and Los Angeles. I still love playing the PGA Tour and I still hope that at some point I can compete there again.

Perhaps he was hoping that his landing on LIV would expedite some sort of agreement between the two sides?

Honestly, it’s something I’m looking forward to… at least a step towards some sort of agreement or some accelerated agreement. Unfortunately, this is not something that is in my control, although I still trust that it will come sooner or later.

He played five tournaments in LIV and in all of them he had a chance to win, although he achieved it in two of them with the XIII Legion. What conclusions do you draw?

I’ve had fun playing in these tournaments, at the end of the day you’re still trying to beat some of the best players in the world and that requires a level of play similar to what I have on the PGA Tour. In that sense, nothing has changed. Yes, it was that I was now part of a team and that was something that made me jump. Here they are a team leader, they are the captain of my group and I like the feeling that winning with my team gives me and relives in them the hits that led us to victory. It’s something I always missed in individual sports, in some ways I envied team sports and now I can live those experiences.

Do you think the five tournaments played were enough preparation for this first major tournament?

If I had to base it on how I feel now, I would tell you that I am physically better than last year. But once the competition starts it doesn’t matter. You have to go out and do what you have to do and I feel fresh and ready for it.

You mentioned belonging to a team. Are you worried, more than a year from now, about the Ryder Cup situation, which is so special to you?

Yes I’m worried, I wish I was there. I am confident that I can play well to get the spot. And if I have to be elected, I hope I can do it.

Going back to these days before the Masters, there was a Champion Dinner that he hosted. Does this aspect stress you out?

The truth is that I was under a bit of pressure, because everyone I spoke to seemed enthusiastic about the menu I prepared with José Andrés… so I was a bit nervous even though I wasn’t the one cooking. José Andrés definitely gave me the best advice, he told me “think about the menu you want to eat for dinner… and you will surely succeed” and that’s what we did, we prepared a something eminently Biscayan and I hope it is to everyone’s liking. It is not for nothing that the greatest legends that this sport has produced have been gathered and for that reason alone it is worth living it.

Jon enjoys this position as the defending champion and, although his many commitments prevent him from spending the usual little time apart from the many colleagues from the Spanish press who have traveled to Augusta, he knows very well that next Thursday he was ready to leave. for anything and knowing In which holes you can fail and which you can’t. Strategy is everything and he already demonstrated last year that he is a good strategist.