Jon Rahm struggles with regret as LIV fallout taints Masters defence

Jon Rahm shuffles awkwardly in his seat. The Spaniard is facing the media at a major championship for the first time since his big money move to LIV Golf at the end of last year.

The moderator welcomes the defending champion to the interview room and asks him to reflect on his year as a Green Jacket.

Rahm obliges. But there’s something off. His demeanour is notably different.

The words he is saying are to be expected. He describes how “it’s so hard to put that experience into words”, and how “there’s something different, something special when you win one” compared to the other majors. “The tradition”, “the venue we come back to year after year”, “the traditions” again. It’s all there and in the right order.

It’s just the way he’s saying it.

Twelve months ago he bowled into Augusta National with his shoulders pushed so far back you were worried he might dislocate something. A noted historian of the game, Rahm’s passion for not only golf but this tournament shone through like a beacon of hope for what was ahead.

Five days later he was back in the same room with a Green Jacket around his shoulders discussing his newly-adjusted Grand Slam ambitions and his early ideas for his Champions Dinner menu.

Now he’s decked out in his Legion XIII threads and he is world away from the Rahm we witnessed in the chair what now feels like a lifetime ago. His huge smile is absent. His normally well-considered responses feel more hasty. Forget first tee nerves, this is interview room angst.

Because he knew what was coming. We knew what was coming.

Rahm told the BBC last week at LIV’s most recent event in Miami that he “understood the weight” of his decision to leave the PGA Tour, and “that’s why it wasn’t an easy decision”.

Now, though, he is out of the protective bubble that his new tour places around its players. And it’s showing in his mannerisms.

“I understood that it could be, what I hoped, a step towards some kind of agreement,” he says softly into the microphone.

“Unfortunately, it’s not up to me, but I would hope it would be something that would help expedite that process.

“At the end of the day, I still did what I thought was best for myself.”

If there is any tinge of regret about his decision to take the Saudi millions, then his body language is giving away far more than what he is saying.

“There’s no secret,” he sighs. “I still love the PGA Tour.” He once again repeats his regret at missing out on the early season venues of which he is so fond: Torrey Pines, Scottsdale, Riviera.

• Opinion: Ranking the entire Masters field from 89 to 1

• Feature: 24 hours in search of the real Rory McIlroy

Then, for perhaps the first time since sitting down, he pauses to catch his thoughts.

“I still hope that at some point I can compete there again. You do miss competing against certain people. But I’ve had so much to focus on. The dynamic has changed. I’m a team leader, a team captain. I’ve had a lot of fun playing in those events. The competition’s still there. They’re smaller fields, but you still have to beat some of the best players in the world and you still have to play at the same level you have to play on the PGA Tour to win those events. That doesn’t change.

“It’s been fun to be part of a team. It’s one of the driving factors for me to make the change. It’s fun to be a part of a family and part of a common goal. And enjoying those team victories has been really, really fun.

“Usually on a Sunday, like last week, I would not have been thrilled by the way I finished, [but I] had a team goal to actually celebrate. I mean, that is actually kind of fun.

“Something that I was jealous of from many other sports [is] when you win as an individual, you do all your commitments, you wake up the next day, and that’s it. It’s not like there’s a shared emotion after that like you see when a team maybe wins a Super Bowl or the NBA Finals or the World Series.”

The words are again falling clumsily from Rahm’s mouth. Normally well thought out answers have turned into an apparent desire to justify a decision that, rightly or wrongly, came with an overwhelming amount of criticism. And that’s before we get to the fact he’s comparing winning a LIV team event to winning some of the biggest team events in the world. It’s as remarkable as it is out of character.

A noted absence in his answer is a certain biennial clash between Europe and the USA.

“Am I concerned?” he says as he’s reminded about the Ryder Cup. “I hope I can be there. I hope I play well enough to earn my way there. And if I have to be picked, I hope I can get picked. I want to be there. That’s definitely something I want to do and I don’t want to miss.”

Questions follow about the Champions Dinner, about which he is “a little nervous” – “Everybody I’ve talked to seems very excited about the menu, which, if anything, has put a lot more pressure on me, even though I’m not cooking” – and caddie Adam Hayes’ recent fitness issues – “That’s quite concerning for me because that guy will battle through anything” – but he continues to look like he would rather be anywhere else on the planet.

Defending the Masters is not easy. There’s a reason only three players have ever done it. There’s a reason only a handful have even made the top-ten the year after slipping on the Green Jacket.

If Rahm is to have any chance this week, he needs to shake off the feeling of trepidation that is so clearly bothering him.

Hear more of our thoughts in our Masters daily commute episodes of The bunkered Podcast from Augusta.

Alex Perry is the Associate Editor of bunkered. A journalist for more than 20 years, he has been a golf industry stalwart for the majority of his career and, in a five-year spell at ESPN, covered every sporting event you can think of. He completed his own Grand Slam at the 2023 Masters, having fallen in love with the sport at his hometown club of Okehampton and on the links of nearby Bude & North Cornwall.

Associate Editor