Jon Rahm defends trophy drought, says winning against quality LIV golfers is "never easy"
Jon Rahm currently leads the LIV Golf United Kingdom at 8-under, two shots clear of Andy Ogletree and Abraham Ancer. Having joined the tour this season, the Spaniard is yet to win his first LIV Golf event. However, he has finished in the top 10 in all nine tournaments he has completed in 2024.
Rahm's winless run on tour came up in one of his recent post-round press conferences. A reporter if the difficulty of winning at LIV Golf had surprised him. Rahm replied with the following (via Flushing It):
"No. I’m fully aware of the quality of golfers out here. It’s never easy to win, so I’d say it’s definitely a challenge." [0:06-0:16]
LIV Golf UK is the 11th event of the 2024 season for Jon Rahm. However, it is the 10th event he has completed, as he withdrew from the Houston event due to injury.
The 29-year-old has finished in the top 10 in nine tour appearances so far. His best results have been third-place finishes at Mayakoba, Adelaide, and Nashville respectively.
Nine different players have won the 10 LIV Golf events this season. Only Joaquin Niemann was able to win two events:
- Mayakoba: Joaquin Niemann
- Las Vegas: Dustin Johnson
- Jeddah: Joaquin Niemann
- Hong Kong: Abraham Ancer
- Miami: Dean Burmester
- Adelaide: Brendan Steele
- Singapore: Brooks Koepka
- Houston: Carlos Ortiz
- Nashville: Tyrrell Hatton
- Andalucia: Sergio Garcia
A look at Jon Rahm's first round at LIV Golf UK
Jon Rahm began his first round on the second hole at LIV Golf UK. The tournament had a shotgun start. The Spaniard birdied his first hole and then parred the next five to move to 1-under after six holes.
Rahm's performance continued to improve from that point. He carded seven birdies and no bogeys over the final 12 holes for an 8-under 63.
With this performance, Rahm leads LIV Golf UK, two strokes ahead of Andy Ogletree and Abraham Ancer. Tyrrell Hatton, his teammate, and Cameron Smith are tied for fourth on 5-under.
Rahm's first-round score at LIV Golf UK tied his personal LIV Golf record. The Spaniard has previously shot 8 under twice: the third round in Adelaide and the second round in Nashville.
Rahm's team, Legion XIII, finished the first round at 12-under par, one stroke ahead of Smash GC, Fireballs GC, and Hyflyers GC. Adding to Rahm and Hatton's score was Kieran Vincent, who finished the day tied for 41st.
Legion XIII is second in the team standings for the season. They have three wins in 10 tournaments so far.
Rahm has 20 career victories so far, including 11 on the PGA Tour. His biggest major wins came at the US Open in 2021 and the Masters Tournament in 2023.