Simply put, Jon Rahm doesn’t regret his decision to leave the PGA Tour for LIV Golf. That said, it’s been an emotional couple of months for the Spaniard.
He missed out on title defenses last month at both The Sentry and American Express, and will miss another next week at the Genesis Invitational. Two weeks ago he couldn’t play at Torrey Pines, where he’s a two-time winner with the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open, his first PGA Tour victory, and the 2021 U.S. Open, his first major championship. This week he’s missing his hometown WM Phoenix Open.
“It was a lot harder to be at home not competing and know that those events were going on. Palm Springs and Torrey, those weeks were hard. I’ve explained so many times how important Torrey is for me,” Rahm explained earlier this week ahead of his second LIV Golf start. “And driving by Phoenix as often as I had to and knowing that I wasn’t going to play there, it’s definitely emotional. That’s one of the things that I’m going to miss.”
“I’m hoping that in the near future I can be back playing some of those events,” he added. “I would certainly love to go back and play some of them.”
But when the shotgun start begins at Las Vegas Country Club, all of that will be behind him.“Now, when the tournament started, we’re here to compete, so whatever else is going on, whatever tournament is going on doesn’t really matter,” he explained. “We’re here to hopefully perform well and win. It’s a lot easier while we’re playing.”
Rahm certainly made it look easy in his debut last week at Mayakoba in Mexico, where he finished T-3 to lead his Legion XIII to the team title in their first event. All eyes have been on Rahm since his shocking move to the Saudi-backed league given his past comments about the 54-hole format, and while the 29-year-old seems to be enjoying his early days with LIV, his eyes are still glancing elsewhere.
“I would love to, if allowed and if I can, go play the Spanish Open, and if it doesn’t conflict with LIV’s schedule, right. But a tournament that both me and (teammate Tyrrell Hatton) are going to miss dearly is Wentworth. If I qualify, I’d still love to go play in Dubai, the DP World Tour Championship.
There’s certainly events I would like to play,” Rahm said. “PGA Tour, we’ll see. If there’s ever a way back and a way where we can play, even if it’s as an invite, I will take it. Like I said, there’s certain events that are special to me that I would still love to support.”