Jon Rahm wants Tiger's double and Seve's crown

"Something good is yet to come," Jon Rahm told his wife, Kelley Cahill, when after the third day of the Memorial Tournament he had to withdraw after testing positive for covid, just as he was flying unrivaled to the title in Jack's tournament Nicklaus.

"I don't know when or what, but something good will come," said Rahm, who believes in karma, the innocent idea that good things happen to good people.

Fifteen days later, the Basque golfer won the US Open and regained world number one.

Between disappointment and glory, Rahm confined himself to his home, and regretted more than anything that he was not present when his parents, Angela and Edorta, who had finally been able to travel to the United States, met their grandson Kepa, the first son of Jon and Kelley, born the week before the Masters. Yes, the whole family was united in Rahm's victory at Torrey Pines, and if he then made history by becoming the first Spanish winner of the US Open, now, at the British Open that begins this Thursday at the Royal St. George's field, he longs to be the first Spaniard to win two greats in a row. Like the vampire who has drunk blood and can no longer control his thirst, Rahm, who has tasted how great a great tastes, thinks only of winning and winning. And since it is an encyclopedia with legs - "I'm pretty good at talking about golf history" -,It does not escape him that the last who linked the two Open in a row, the American and the British, was Tiger Woods in 2000, the first two steps of the climax of the myth: to that pair he would add the 2000 PGA and the Masters of 2001. The big four in your pocket at the same time. The

Tiger Slam.

Doublets have been more since then.

Jordan Spieth added Masters and US Open in the same year, and Brooks Koepka took over PGA and US Open.

But nothing like

Woods'

Sistine Chapel

.

All this is recorded by Rahm on the hard disk, and also, of course, that the British is the tournament that made Seve Ballesteros eternal, champion in 1979, 84 and 88, and what better tribute to the teacher he admires the most than to succeed him as the second Spaniard with the Silver Jar 10 years after his death.

It already inspired him, he said, when before deciding on the US Open he found the Seve Ballesteros Award for the best European player at his box office.

It's going to happen, he told himself.

Won.

Although if he had been able to choose which big to sign up first, or just one, Rahm had it clear, the British Open.

“Because that is where golf was born”, sums up the Basque, who commands an army that is completed by Sergio García, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Jorge Campillo and Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño.

Continuing a saga that Angel de la Torre began 101 years ago, the first Spaniard to enlist in the

British

major

.

The paternity

At 26 years old, Rahm has lifted the slab from him, the pressure of not having a great that he more than anyone knew was in his hands. Then, as happened to Olazabal with his 94 Masters, more than happiness he felt “relief”. “For most of the past five years all I heard was that, big, big, big, like it was easy. But the fact that you are expected to win one doesn't mean anything. There is always the next one to win, so now I come with the same level of motivation and enthusiasm. Focused on winning the Open. It would be incredible because nobody in Spain has been able to do it after Seve and it would be unique. Hopefully. Do not think that I do not have it in mind. I'm ambitious, ”Rahm blurts out, always an open book.

The reigning Champion Golfer Shane Lowry 🇮🇪 tees up in a star studded group at Royal St George's with US Open Champion Jon Rahm 🇪🇸 and 2010 Champion Golfer Louis Oosthuizen 🇿🇦

Look through all the tee times here 👉 https://t.co / wOgJInIVNj pic.twitter.com/wtH3MYl0as

- The Open (@TheOpen) July 13, 2021

Barrika's return to Royal St. George's, where, as a teenager, he played a British Boys in 2009. "It excites me," he says; "The field hasn't changed much, but I have, quite a bit." By the hundredths, after being seventh last week at the Scottish Open, he does not arrive as number one in the world (Dustin Johnson is), but as one of the favorites with capital letters. He will start with Shane Lowry, the current champion (of 2019, because last year the Open fell due to the pandemic), and Louis Oosthuizen, the winner of 2010. Two former winners are always good company to enter a

links

(the older type of golf course, coastal, with dunes).

Fatherhood is another ingredient in his success, according to Rahm. Now, he says, he knows how to leave his rage on the field, disconnect with Kepa in his arms, although the volcano is still inside him, or it would not be him, and thus he gets angry when in Scotland he misses a

putt

and the option of victory in the Last moment. Win, win and win. No other verb is conjugated in whom this year he has nine

top ten

in 14 tournaments, and it would be 10 if not for the covid.

If possible, he has more enthusiasm at the Open, the only big one in which he has not finished in the top 10, 11th in 2019 as the best card.

It was in the pre-pandemic.

This Thursday the public returns without restrictions to golf in England, as in Wimbledon and the European Championship: 32,000 spectators per day.

"I've missed it so much," says Rahm.

Think of Seve, the Open and the Olympics, which he has never hesitated to go to.

"You have the opportunity to call yourself an Olympian!" He is surprised by the resignations.

"And if you win the gold ...".

What else was Jon Rahm going to think about?

The 'secret' of clubfoot

Asked before the tournament starts about his

swing

Jon Rahm spoke of “certain physical limitations” and then explained in detail the peculiarities of his tee shot and how a birth problem has influenced his mechanics. “I've been a professional for five years and I'm tired of hearing that the reason I have a short swing is because my hips are close together. It is the most absurd thing that can be said. I was born with a clubfoot in my right leg. My ankle-length leg was straight, but my foot was turned 90 degrees inward. So when I was born they broke my ankle bones and cast me from the knee down when I was only 20 minutes in the world. That leg did not grow at the same rate, ”explained Rahm, who is 1.88m tall and weighs about 100 kilos, to the astonishment of those who did not know that story of improvement.

. @ jonrahmpga offers a unique insight into his playing style #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/h7h2T8BQzj

- The Open (@TheOpen) July 13, 2021

That is why, for example, as a child he did not play as a field footballer, but as a goalkeeper, and he did not do the goal kicks, but a defender.

But that step back was a step forward that spurred him to practice all kinds of sports and have to try harder than the rest.

“Today I have very limited ankle mobility in my right leg, which is also a centimeter and a half shorter than my left.

With the limitations, I can't make a full swing because my right ankle doesn't have the mobility or stability to do it.

From a very young age I learned to be more efficient at creating power and more consistent with a short swing.

The key is to let the body tell how to swing.

I have learned from my body.

He tells you what you can and cannot do ”, explained Rahm before the Open;

“In my case, the right ankle won't move any more than it does now.

That is the beauty of golf ”.

Schedules and pairings.

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