Background and career
Jon Rahm Rodríguez (born 10 November 1994) is a Spanish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour. He is a former world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking. Rahm has won two major championships, the 2021 U.S. Open and 2023 Masters Tournament. While at Arizona State University, Rahm became the first two-time winner of the Ben Hogan Award as the top collegiate golfer in the United States and was number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for a then-record 60 weeks. He turned professional in 2016, and won titles on both the PGA Tour and the European Tour in 2017. He made his debut at the 2018 Ryder Cup, where he defeated Tiger Woods in singles. After winning the 2020 Memorial Tournament, Rahm became the number-one ranked player in the world, a position he has held for over 50 weeks during his career. In 2021, Rahm became the first Spanish golfer to win the U.S. Open. He won his second major in 2023 at the Masters Tournament. Later that year, he joined LIV Golf. In 2024, Rahm was ranked the world's second highest-paid athlete by Forbes, with reportedly over $200 million in earnings.
Rahm was born on 10 November 1994 in Barrika, a town in the province of Biscay, Spain. His mother Angela Rodríguez was a midwife, and his father Edorta Rahm worked in the petroleum industry. Rahm was born with clubfoot; his right foot pointed 90 degrees inwards and he was placed in a cast to straighten it. As a result, his right leg below the knee had less development and grew to be 1.5 cm (0.6 in) shorter than his left leg. Rahm stated in 2021 that his short backswing was a product of his limited right ankle mobility. Rahm's parents became interested in golf due to the 1997 Ryder Cup held at Valderrama Golf Club in Sotogrande, Spain, where Seve Ballesteros captained the victorious European team. Rahm's father subsequently introduced his sons to the sport. Rahm stated he likely would not have become a professional golfer if not for this. In 2022, he described Ballesteros as a "great hero" of his and said regarding the 1997 Ryder Cup. "I'm here because of that alone, and everything else is down to the path that [Seve] paved for so many of us." Rahm and his elder brother Eriz first played golf at Club Deportivo Martiartu in Erandio, which was a general sports club. They later joined Larrabea Golf Club in Álava, which was about an hour's drive from their home. Members at Larrabea recalled that Rahm was able to hit the ball over 100 m (110 yd) with a 5-wood by age 8. Aside from golf, he competed in canoeing, football, and the Basque sport jai alai. Rahm was often involved in fights as a child and began training in kung fu, at the encouragement of his mother who practiced tai chi. Inspired by Athletic Bilbao player José Ángel Iribar, Rahm played as a goalkeeper for SD Plentzia up to the under-14 level. At age 13, Rahm began to focus primarily on golf and received coaching from PGA of Spain professional Eduardo Celles, who instructed Rahm to hit fades instead of high hooks. Celles recalled in 2020 that Rahm had an intense work ethic and an exceptional memory, capable of remembering small details about courses such as the slopes of greens. He won the Spanish Junior/Boys Championship in 2010 by six strokes. Rahm attended Ander Deuna Ikastola in Sopela until age 16, when he transferred to IES Ortega y Gasset, a school in Madrid renowned for its athletes. In 2011, he was part of the Spanish team which won the European Boys' Team Championship, where he defeated Sepp Straka of Austria as part of the final match.
Rahm was recruited by Tim Mickelson to play collegiate golf for the Arizona State Sun Devils at Arizona State University (ASU), beginning in the fall of 2012. Rahm had previously planned to attend the University of San Francisco in 2013. He was persuaded to join ASU after learning that Tim's brother Phil Mickelson as well as Alejandro Cañizares had played for the university, and because his friend Noemí Jiménez was on the women's team at ASU. Rahm initially struggled at ASU as he spoke little English and had difficulty controlling his emotions on the course. Mickelson considered withdrawing Rahm's scholarship and awarding it to someone else. In October 2012, Rahm shot 77-64-65 to place second at the Pac-12 Preview, which saved his scholarship. Later that month, he won his first individual collegiate title at the Bill Cullum Invitational, finishing three strokes clear of runner-up Grant Forrest. At the 2013 NCAA Division I men's golf championship, Rahm opened with a course-record 61, but followed with 72-71 to finish tied-second. He was named the 2013 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, ranking first in the nation for birdies (165) and par-5 scoring (4.51). His scoring average was 71.37, the lowest mark by a freshman in ASU history. In March 2014, Rahm shot 21-under 192 to win the ASU Thunderbird Invitational. This broke the ASU record for lowest 54-hole total. He had a scoring average of 70.84 in his sophomore season. He helped Spain win the 2014 European Amateur Team Championship in July and was the individual leader in the 2014 Eisenhower Trophy in September, where his aggregate score of 263 broke the event's scoring record of 269 set by Jack Nicklaus in 1960. In his junior season, Rahm won four individual titles and had a 69.15 scoring average. He was named a first-team All-American and won the Ben Hogan Award as the top collegiate golfer in the United States. During the season, Rahm played in the PGA Tour's Phoenix Open in February 2015 on a sponsor exemption. He shot 12-under 272 to finish tied-fifth, three strokes behind the winner Brooks Koepka. He was ineligible for the $239,400 payout due to his amateur status. Rahm overtook Ollie Schniederjans to reach the number-one spot in the World Amateur Golf Ranking in April 2015. Rahm won the Mark H. McCormack Medal in August 2015 as the top-ranked amateur golfer, thus earning exemptions to the U.S. Open and the Open Championship the next year. He was overtaken in the rankings by Maverick McNealy in September. The following month, Rahm regained the number-one ranking after winning the Tavistock Collegiate Invitational. In his senior season at ASU, Rahm finished top-10 in all 13 of his starts. He won four individual titles, including the Pac-12 Championship, and recorded a 69.38 scoring average for the season. He was again named a first-team All-American, and became the first two-time recipient of the Ben Hogan Award. Rahm graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications in May 2016. His total of 11 individual collegiate wins at ASU was second only to Phil Mickelson's 16. At the 2016 U.S. Open in June, Rahm was the only amateur to make the cut. He shot 7-over 287 at Oakmont Country Club to finish in tied-23rd place and received the low amateur medal. Rahm subsequently turned professional. He ended his amateur career with a record 60 weeks atop the World Amateur Golf Ranking. This record stood until 2022, when Keita Nakajima reached a total of 87 weeks as number one.
Following the 2016 U.S. Open, Rahm turned professional and signed with management agency Lagardère Sports. By turning professional, he forfeited his place at the 2016 Open Championship. Rahm made his debut as a professional the next week at the PGA Tour's Quicken Loans National on a sponsor exemption. He opened with a 64 at Congressional Country Club and finished the tournament in tied-third place. This meant he re-qualified for the 2016 Open Championship in July. Rahm finished tied-59th at the Open, then tied for second at the RBC Canadian Open the following week, which earned him special temporary membership status on the PGA Tour. Despite his limited number of starts, Rahm accumulated enough points to earn a tour card for the 2016–17 PGA Tour season. In January 2017, Rahm shot a final-round 65, which included a 60-foot (18 m) putt for eagle on the last hole, to win the Farmers Insurance Open by three strokes over Charles Howell III and C. T. Pan. This was Rahm's first PGA Tour victory, and it moved him from 137th to 46th in the Official World Golf Ranking. In March, Rahm finished tied-third at the 2017 WGC-Mexico Championship, two strokes behind world number one Dustin Johnson. Later that month, Rahm reached the final of the 2017 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. He was defeated by Dustin Johnson, 1 up. These results moved Rahm up to 14th in the Official World Golf Ranking. At the 2017 Masters Tournament in April, Rahm shot rounds of 73-70 to make the cut on his debut at Augusta National Golf Club and stood three strokes behind the 36-hole lead. Rahm followed with rounds of 73-75 to place tied-27th. In May, he finished runner-up at the Dean & DeLuca Invitational, one stroke behind the winner Kevin Kisner. Rahm led the field in driving distance during the tournament, held at the tree-lined Colonial Country Club. At the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open in July, Rahm shot a tournament record score of 24-under 264 to win by six strokes. This was his first victory on the European Tour. The win vaulted Rahm to 8th in the Official World Golf Ranking. Rahm finished the regular season in sixth place in the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup rankings. He had top-10 finishes in all four of the FedEx Cup Playoff events held from August to September and finished fifth in the final standings. Rahm was ineligible for the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year award in 2017 as he had exhausted his rookie eligibility in the 2015–16 season by making nine starts. Xander Schauffele instead received the award. On 14 November 2017, Rahm was named the European Tour's Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year. Some European Tour players such as Richard Bland and Eddie Pepperell criticised the award being given to Rahm as he had played only four regular European Tour events during the season. Later that week, Rahm shot 19-under 269 to win the European Tour's season-ending tournament, the DP World Tour Championship. This moved him to 4th in the Official World Golf Ranking.
In his first start of 2018, Rahm finished runner-up at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, eight strokes behind Dustin Johnson. Later in January, Rahm won the CareerBuilder Challenge for his second career PGA Tour victory. He prevailed with a birdie on the fourth extra hole of a playoff against Andrew Landry. The win lifted Rahm to a new-high of 2nd in the world rankings. This made it four wins in just 38 professional starts for Rahm – a ratio bettered only by Tiger Woods in the past 30 years. At the 2018 Masters Tournament in April, Rahm opened with a 3-over 75. He followed with rounds of 68 and 65 to move into contention. He ultimately finished fourth at 11-under, four strokes behind winner Patrick Reed. This was Rahm's first top-10 finish in a major championship. The following week, Rahm won the Open de España on the European Tour. He shot a 5-under 67 in the final round to finish two strokes ahead of 54-hole leader Paul Dunne. Rahm finished tied-fourth at the 2018 PGA Championship in August with 11-under 269, five strokes behind Brooks Koepka's winning mark. In September 2018, Rahm qualified for the European team participating in the 2018 Ryder Cup. The European team won the Ryder Cup, defeating the U.S. 17.5 to 10.5 at Le Golf National outside of Paris, France. In the Sunday singles, Rahm defeated Tiger Woods, 2 and 1. He became the first player to defeat Woods in singles at the Ryder Cup since Costantino Rocca in 1997. Rahm won his third title of the year in December, at the limited-field Hero World Challenge tournament in the Bahamas. He shot 20-under 268 to win by four strokes ahead of Tony Finau.
Rahm shot a 64 in the third round of the 2019 Players Championship in March to take the solo lead. A final-round 76 dropped him to tied-12th. Rahm won his first tournament of 2019 in April, at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. He and his partner Ryan Palmer combined to shoot 26-under 262 and win the team event by three strokes over Tommy Fleetwood and Sergio García. This was Rahm's seventh top-10 finish of the year to date, including a tie for ninth at the 2019 Masters Tournament two weeks prior.
