TROONE, Scotland: Jon Ramm felt like one of the most popular players when he arrived at Royal Troon, even if it had nothing to do with him or his golf.
Spain is now completely on the run. Carlos Alcaraz won Wimbledon on Sunday for his second Grand Slam title of the year, just before losing to Spain in the European Championship final. It was the latter that made Scottish fans celebrate the Spaniard.
Nobody in these parts likes to see England win anything.
“I played all 18 holes, and I think I got more compliments than I ever have in my life for something I didn't do,” Rahm said Tuesday. I don't know what they've done, but whenever someone plays against England, every other country in Europe gangs up against them.
“I think because we've heard so many times over the last few years, 'It's Coming Home,' that nobody wants to see it come home at this point.”
Get Sergio Garcia to win his first golf tournament in Valdrama, and Ram wants nothing more than to add to Spain's winning streak.
He needs more for himself.
The major championship season ends with the British Open and Rahm was not present. He won the Masters last December when he left for LIV Golf and has yet to win. His last victory was about 15 months ago in the Masters tournament.
He barely made it to the Masters. He missed the cut at the PGA Championship. And he couldn't even play in the US Open because of a foot infection.
“Last year at the Masters I didn't really play my best,” Rahm said. The Ryder Cup was perhaps the only similarity to the beginning of the year. But Nashville and last week (the LIV events), I felt like I got closer to a higher level of golf where maybe there wasn't as much thinking about my process. Maybe I play a little more freely and see the flight of the ball that I want to see more.
“I'm getting a lot closer to what I might have been at the beginning of last year.”
A foot infection just before the US Open summed up a frustrating year. Rahm hoped to play Pinehurst's No. 2 until he sought out a specialist who numbed his leg and inserted a swab into the infection to clean it out.
“Pretty much when I saw it, I was like, 'OK, I'm not playing in the Open,'” Rahm said. Once I accepted the fact that I couldn't play, I think it was very enjoyable. “I think I enjoyed watching some of the best players in the world fight like any other player.”
He can put up a fight these days, especially in the majors.
Rahm hopes to fix some of his driver issues by getting a new shaft, which he says will allow him to swing a little more freely. It was at Valhalla for the PGA Championship that he realized he needed a change.
A leg injury was a setback, but he competed in his next LIV tournament and then finished 10th in Valdrama. He has top-10 finishes in every LIV event he's played in, except for Houston, where he pulled out with a foot injury.
After that, LIV has the same 54 players every week, with only the top half considered among the game's elite. Going a year without a win can be frustrating, much less the last 15 months.
Now it's onto Royal Throne, a track that usually plays easy on the way out and turns into a beast – and wind – on the way back.
Rahm planned to play just nine holes on Monday, but the weather was probably as glorious as it's going to be all week and he wanted to enjoy it. Wind or calm, rain or shine, away from the potted shelters and sheep bushes that are key to this British Open.
And after this week, golf gets a little foggy. He still has a LIV calendar to complete, but Rahm said his wife's pregnancy with their third child is not going well and he is on bed rest. He does not know if he will be able to play in the Spanish Open this fall.
And it won't be until next April that Rohm gets a chance to compete with the likes of Scotty Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Xander Schaufele. The best players now meet in major tournaments only four times a year.
“It's a decision I've made,” he said of joining LIV. “Hopefully at some point golf can figure itself out and we'll have more opportunities to play together.”
