NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. – Since Jon Rahm joined LIV Golf in December 2023, it’s been impossible to ignore the Grand Slam elephant in the room.
In eight major starts since joining the breakaway league, he has three top-10 finishes but hasn’t been closer than five shots entering the final round and has never seriously contended. He’ll have his chance Sunday at the PGA Championship.
Rahm shot a third-round 67 in blustery conditions to move into a share of the lead at 4 under par at Aronimink with a game he said was vintage 2023.
“Sometimes it’s a tricky balance between how I feel like I’m hitting the ball and how well you can score, right? I think early in 2023, I scored really, really well, and it perhaps felt a little bit worse than I would have liked,” said Rahm, who won four times on the PGA Tour in ’23, including the Masters. “I would say so far this week it’s felt really, really good, and so far this year, I would say at times perhaps better than in ’23. But the feeling of how you’re playing and actually getting it done are two different things. So feeling-wise it’s really up there.”
Rahm has won twice this season on LIV Golf and in seven starts he hasn’t finished worse than eighth. In addition to his Masters title, Rahm also won the 2021 U.S. Open. A victory this week would get him three legs through the career Grand Slam.
Following a slow start to the week with his putter, Rahm is leading the field in strokes gained: around the green, and textbook course management with birdies on both par 5s and a 2-under total on the par 3s on Saturday.
The Spaniard’s major championship turnaround couldn’t have come at a better time following last month’s news that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will end its funding of LIV Golf after this season. Rahm is currently in a multi-year contract with LIV Golf and he was asked how a potential victory Sunday could impact the league.
“Honestly, in a week like this, one, I’m thinking more about myself. I’m not going to take on anything outside what I can control when it comes to competing tomorrow,” he said. “If I do get it done and I sit here again tomorrow, then you can ask me the same question, and I’ll give you an answer.”
