That Jon Rahm finished 45th at the Masters of Augusta and failed to make the cut a month later at the second major of the season doesn’t appear to be a mere coincidence. These are the only two tournaments he has played in 2024 that are not part of the LIV calendar.
Jon Rahm, results
The Spanish golfer shared his feelings with TenGolf and Movistar Golf after finishing the second round of the PGA Championship and was self-critical: “The mistakes were mine, if you don’t hit fairways on this course, it’s tough, and I’ve done enough to somehow salvage the round… It surprises me because I’ve been playing well in recent weeks. I think it’s the first time I’ve been playing well and struggled so much on the course like these last two days.”
The ‘León de Barrika’ saw his streak of 18 consecutive majors with cuts made, the best among active golfers, come to an end. The last time he failed to make the cut was at the 2019 PGA Championship. While not an excuse, it’s worth noting that the cut line at this tournament has never been so low in its history. In fact, David Puig and Adrián Otaegui also failed to make the cut, leaving Spain without representatives for the weekend at a major for the first time since the 1998 PGA Championship, 101 major tournaments ago.
Today, many remember that ‘Rahmbo’ is the second-highest-paid athlete in the world, only behind Cristiano Ronaldo, according to the Forbes list released this week. His critics will continue to remind him of his lucrative contract, at least until he wins another tournament. But it’s other types of data that need analysis. He arrived at the PGA Championship having played eight tournaments, including the Masters, whereas last season he arrived at Oak Hill with 11 tournaments under his belt, and after a successful streak. Jon himself expressed before the start of this second major of the season that he would have liked to play some PGA Tour events in January.
Diminished statistics From a numerical standpoint, we see that Rahm has struggled to hit the green, when he and Scheffler have been leaders in the ‘greens in regulation’ statistic for years, meaning hitting the ball onto the green in the least number of shots. This usually directly influences the number of birdies and bogeys. Jon has made up ground in shots around the green, and his birdie flow hasn’t been bad, but it wasn’t enough to make the cut.
Multiple circumstances influence this downturn, but when talking about this tournament, it all starts with the few fairways that ‘Rahmbo’ has hit at Valhalla and the problems that arise from this. His statistics this year in the LIV for ‘greens in regulation’ and fairways are not good, considering his usual performance. However, in the league of 54 holes, after seven tournaments, he leads in birdies made (110 with an average of 5.24 per round – 35 bogeys).
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