Jon Rahm is halfway to becoming the sixth player to ever achieve one of golf’s most illustrious feats.
Having won the U.S. Open in 2021 and the Masters last month, the world No. 1 has notched two legs of the career Grand Slam.
Winning more majors is at the forefront of the 28-year-old Spaniard’s mind, but he’s not necessarily selecting which ones he wants to win.
“Not that much more,” Rahm said Tuesday ahead of the PGA Championship when asked how much he’s been thinking about the Grand Slam after his Masters triumph. “Obviously, if I were to win this week or the Open Championship, it really becomes a true reality, but winning two majors is not easy, and picking which ones you win is a little ludicrous to think about.”
“I think obviously winning the Grand Slam would absolutely be amazing, but I think — without sounding too conceited or arrogant, I’d rather focus on the number of majors you win than having the Grand Slam per se.”
Full-field tee times from the PGA Championship
Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods are the only ones who have pulled off the career Grand Slam, while Rory McIlroy (Masters), Phil Mickelson (U.S. Open) and Jordan Spieth (PGA) are among active players who need one more to do it.
Heck, Rahm is playing so well this year — four wins in 12 starts, including the Masters — maybe he can become the first player since Bobby Jones in 1930 to win all four majors in a calendar year.
But winning them all amid a career is hard enough.
“Obviously, (the career Grand Slam) would be amazing,” Rahm said, “but the more you put yourself in the position to be able to win majors, the more likely you might be to get it done. But it’s a very small number of players to do it, last one being Tiger. It’s obviously not an easy thing to accomplish.”
And the 11-time Tour winner knows there are going to be highs and lows throughout a career, which will only make the Grand Slam harder to claim.
“I think it would be ludicrous to think that you can always keep increasing your level of performance,” he said. “That’s just impossible. There’s going to be downs. As I just mentioned, even Tiger had downs. Maybe his downs were shorter, maybe his downs were different in his mind, but everybody had them. It is part of sports.”
Not even 30 years old yet, there should be plenty of chances for Rahm to try and pull off the historic feat. However, coming from one of the five players to do it, he’ll need a few traits to do so.
“I wanted to win the career grand slam so desperately that I went to a Catholic Church one night and went in,” Player said in 2015. “I didn’t pray for victory. I prayed for patience, courage and to enjoy adversity.”