Top analyst tears into ‘irrelevant’ Jon Rahm

Golf Channel’s Eamon Lynch has sounded off on Jon Rahm ahead of this year’s Open Championship at Royal Troon.

The Claret Jug is set to be contested in North Ayrshire next week, but the Spaniard won’t arrive on Scotland’s west coast as one of the favourites.

It’s after a topsy turvy major season that has seen him finish T45 at the Masters, miss the cut at the PGA Championship and withdraw from the US Open.

Lynch also hinted at the chance Rahm’s move to LIV Golf has been detrimental.

“The biggest story is Jon Rahm,” he said, speaking in the buildup to the Open.

“I know he withdrew from Pinehurst with a foot injury, but he’s been a competitive irrelevance in major championships so far this year.

• 13 Tiger Woods stats that will blow your mind

• Michael Block considering career switch

“A guy who won the Masters last year and contended in two other major championships and was such a storyline every time we went to a major.

“The game just hasn’t been there and perhaps it’s a coincidence that it’s happened after he went to LIV Golf. Everyone has slump years and maybe this is just his.”

Rahm will at least have a chance to warm up for the final major in the men’s calendar when he tees it up at Valderrama on Friday.

LIV Golf Andalucia is the Saudi-bankrolled league’s tenth event of the season and only stop in Rahm’s native Spain.

Apart from failing to compete in Houston with that ominous foot injury, the 29-year-old has finished inside the top ten in all eight LIV starts.

• Ian Poulter: Why I skipped Open Qualifying

• Rory McIlroy in for (cool) surprise at Genesis Scottish Open

Meanwhile, Lynch argued the move hasn’t had the effect the Masters champion assumed it would.

“I think we’ve reached a point where what happens inside the ropes is less impactful than what happens outside the ropes.

“We’ve seen LIV guys win majors with Koepka and DeChambeau. We’ve seen guys win majors and then go to LIV with Rahm and Cam Smith.

“It didn’t really seem to have a seismic impact and I think Jon Rahm thought his leaving would be a seismic impact – he’s on record of saying that – but it wasn’t.”

John Turnbull A graduate of the University of Stirling, John joined the bunkered team in 2023 as a Content Producer, with a responsibility for covering all breaking news, tour news, grassroots content and much more besides. A keen golfer, he plays the majority of his golf at Falkirk Tryst Golf Club. Top of his 'bucket list' is a round of Pebble Beach... ideally in the company of Gareth Bale.