Jon RAHM

Spain

Golf

Games Participations1

First Olympic GamesParis 2024

Year of Birth1994

Social Media

Biography

With victory at the 2023 Masters, Jon Rahm became Spain's fourth holder of the Green Jacket after Severiano Ballesteros, Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio García. After leading Europe to victory in the Ryder Cup, the man from the Basque Country became the biggest name to join the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series from the PGA Tour.

Jon Rahm's rise to world's number-one golfer

Born with a clubfoot, which required immediate surgery after birth and left him with limited mobility in his right ankle, Rahm has had to wear specially-adapted golf shoes since his youth. That did not stop him making waves in the sport as he helped Spain to win the 2011 European Boys' Team Championship and the 2014 European Amateur Team Championship. Rahm was also the individual leader at the 2014 Eisenhower Trophy.

The following year, he received a golf scholarship to attend Arizona State University where he won no fewer than 11 collegiate tournaments. He held the top spot in the amateur golf world rankings for 60 weeks in two separate periods between April 2015 and June 2016. He became the first player to win the Ben Hogan Award for best college golfer twice.

Rahm turned professional after being the best-placed amateur at the US Open. He immediately finished third at the Quicken Loans National before sharing second place at the Canadian Open to help secure his PGA Tour card for 2017.

His first professional win came in January at the Farmers Insurance Open with two titles, at the Irish Open and the season-ending European Tour Championship in Dubai, placing him third on the European Tour money list despite making just 13 starts. He was fifth on the PGA Tour money list as he broke into the top four of the world rankings.

More titles followed with Rahm winning a second European Tour Championship to this time top the money list. That was his third tournament win in 13 starts out of a total of 46 events.

Jon Rahm: two majors, world number one ranking and LIV Golf

In July 2020, weeks after competition resumed following the start of the pandemic, Rahm won the Memorial Tournament to go top of the world rankings. He would lose it the following week as Justin Thomas took the WGC-Fed Ex St. Jude Invitational, but regain it - again for one week only - after finishing tied for 13th at the PGA Championship.

The big-hitting Basque would spend longer at the summit after clinching his first major title at the 2021 US Open, beating Louis Oosthuizen by one stroke at Torrey Pines. He was one of the favourites for gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but had to withdraw after a positive test for COVID-19.

By his high standards, 2022 was a lacklustre year on the PGA Tour as he achieved just the one win at the Mexico Open. But his form picked up at the end of the campaign on the renamed DP World Tour as he claimed a third Spanish Open title before again winning the season finale in Dubai.

In 2023, he returned to the top of the world rankings with victory in the Genesis Invitational. And weeks later, the Spaniard clinched his second major title at the Masters on what would have been Ballesteros' 76th birthday. Rahm won by four strokes from fellow former Arizona State alum Phil Mickelson and another former world number one in Brooks Koepka.

After battling with Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler for the number one spot, Rahm announced his switch to LIV Golf in December 2023 having previously said he was not interested in the three-round LIV format or the money. While he follows previous emigré Koepka in slipping down the world rankings, he remains on course to fight for Spain's first golf medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Jon RAHM
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