PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Jon Rahm’s two major championship victories have come on American soil and he has deep golf and familial ties to the States. But ask him what the Open Championship means to the Spaniard and his answer is both surprising and not.
“In my opinion, the Open Championship is the most prestigious event you can win in golf,” Rahm said on Tuesday at Royal Portrush ahead of this week’s 153rd Open. “For my understanding of the game and the history of the game, I think the claret jug is the most special one.
“There’s an order to it, too, because it changes venues. So if you can win it in St Andrews, I don’t think anything in golf can come close to that. Obviously, there’s different ones that have a lot of significance as well.
“The Open to me, I think that’s what it is,” he continued. “It’s the home of golf. Golf started in this part of the world. It’s the oldest championship we have, and that’s what makes it so special—the type of golf we play, the links courses where in theory is meant to be played, the elements, the weather, it’s quite unique. I don’t think there’s a word to describe it, but all together it’s what makes it so special.”
That Rahm, who won his first major in the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines and was then fitted for a green jacket at the 2023 Masters, would be partial to the oldest of golf majors is not a shock, given his knowledge and love of golf history. At only 30 years old, it’d be wise to put money on him in trivia quiz among any of his peers. (The only players he cited that he talks much history with are Phil Mickelson and Jose Maria Olazabal.)
“My dad was a history major. I’ve watched a lot of history documentaries growing up, so it’s something I enjoy. I like history as well,” Rahm said Tuesday. “I don’t know if it helps me or not. I just enjoy it, and I think it makes me get a different understanding when we come to courses like this.”
Jon Rahm reacts after winning the Irish Open at Portstewart.
Oliver McVeigh
Rahm has a particular affinity for Ireland, having captured two Irish Opens here on a couple of the most beloved tracks on the island. He stormed to a six-shot win in the 2017 edition at Portstewart, which is just up the road from Portrush, and seized a second two years later at Lahinch in County Clare.
An Open Championship would certainly seem within Rahm’s reach, and he’s had a couple of close calls in eight starts. In 2021, having won the U.S. Open a month earlier, he powered to scores of 64-68-66 in the last three rounds and ultimately lost by four to Collin Morikawa at Royal St. George’s. At Royal Liverpool two years later, Rahm tied with three others for second, but they were all blown away, six shots to rear of Brian Harman.
Remarkably, it’s been 37 years since a Spaniard lifted the claret jug, and, of course, it was the country’s greatest golf hero, Seve Ballesteros, who won the Open three times in a 10-year span. Links golf didn’t favor two-time Masters champ Jose Maria Olazabal, who posted only one top-10. Conversely, Sergio Garcia, who is competing this week, has done everything but win, with 10 top-10 finishes and a pair of runners-up. His only majors triumph came in the Masters.
Rahm had no answer to a question that was asked about the Spanish drought. It’s no easier to explain why it’s been 38 years since Nick Faldo was the last Brit to win the British Open.
“It’s just never easy to win an Open,” Rahm said with a shrug.
We do know this: The Spaniard is always ready to do battle.
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Is it the British Open or the Open Championship? The name of the final men’s major of the golf season is a subject of continued discussion. The event’s official name, as explained in this op-ed by former R&A chairman Ian Pattinson, is the Open Championship. But since many United States golf fans continue to refer to it as the British Open, and search news around the event accordingly, Golf Digest continues to utilize both names in its coverage.
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MORE GOLF DIGEST BRITISH OPEN COVERAGE
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History of the claret jug: 153 years of triumphs, dents and lots of drinking
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
