OAKMONT, Pa. – Jon Rahm would love to have a few more wins under his belt, both on LIV and of the major variety, but he’s still proud of his consistency.
He enters this week’s U.S. Open at Oakmont with top-10s in all 20 of his LIV starts aside from a WD in Houston last year because of a foot injury that also knocked him out of last summer’s U.S. Open. He also is fresh off a T-8 at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.
“I feel like I’ve been driving it good this year,” Rahm said. “I wouldn’t say it’s my best ever, but I’m feeling good. It’s been a good year. If we go back to the last major, PGA, I felt really confident on the tee and moving it both ways, so carrying that over to this week as well.”
Asked what he takes more confidence from, those LIV performances or his past major experiences, the two-time major champ said, “Both.”
But he added that a top-10 on LIV, where field sizes are just 54 players, isn’t quite the achievement of a top-10 in a full-field tournament.
“Listen, I’m a realist in this case,” Rahm said. “I’ve been playing really good golf, yes, but I’d be lying if I said that it wasn’t easier to have top-10s with a smaller field. That’s just the truth, right? Had I been playing full-field events, would I have top-10’d every single week? No. But I’ve been playing good enough to say that I would most likely have been inside the top 30 every single time and maybe even top 25, which for 21 straight tournaments I’d say that’s pretty good. I still would have had a lot of top-10s, that’s for sure. It’s hard to say. There’s definitely some weeks, like last week for example, having a weaker Sunday than everybody else, I don’t think I would have top 10’d. I was able to finish eighth.
“I think winning is equally as hard, but you can take advantage of a smaller field to finish higher.”