“You’re in such a relaxing spot” – Jon Rahm confident to ‘go wire to wire’ at the Mexico Open
Jon Rahm is confident to win the fifth tournament of 2023 and defending his title at the Mexico Open. The Spaniard has been continuously playing on the Tour since the beginning of the year. He has only missed two events this year and soon after winning The Masters, returned to play at the 2023 RBC Heritage. However, he took a break and did not play at the Zurich Classic.
Jon Rahm will now return for the Mexico Open to defend his title. The tournament will start on Thursday, April 27, and will run through the week to complete the final round on Sunday, April 30.
The 28-year-old golfer is confident that he can win the tournament and defend his title. Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, April 26, Rahm said:
“Feeling good with the game where it’s at right now. I’ve only been able to defend the Spanish Open as a professional, so it wouldn’t be the worst thing if I could make the Mexico Open be my next defense.
"Even though there’s competition, you’re in such a relaxing spot … there’s a lot worse places to be than this one. I’m glad to be back and I’m glad to be in good form this year," he added.
It is important to note that Jon Rahm is the highest-ranked golfer playing at the Vidanta field this week. Rahm, Tony Finau, and Alex Noren are the only golfers under the top 50 in OWGR who will be competing at the 2023 Mexico Open.
"I was getting close to accomplishing everything" - Jon Rahm on his back-to-back victories
Jon Rahm's triumph at the 2022 Mexico Open came after 11 months without a win. It was the longest drought of his career. However, things subsequently changed after the Mexico Open last year.
The new Masters winner believes that he is playing in good form. It is pertinent to note that Jon Rahm has won four events since January 2023. He started the year with a victory at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and then won The American Express.
Jon Rahm then registered a victory at the 2023 Genesis Invitational Open and finally claimed the second major of his career at Augusta on April 9. Speaking about his game, Rahm went on to say:
“You kind of need to reset because I was getting close to accomplishing everything I had set my mind to. If you have to reset or refresh your goals, it’s an amazing thing because that means you’re exceeding your expectations.”
He added:
“If I can be an inspiration to anyone, it’s great. If I can be an inspiration to somebody who maybe didn’t have the means to play golf early on, it’s even better.”
Jon Rahm won the Mexico Open in 2022 after defeating Brandon Wu, Kurt Kitayama, and Tony Finau by one over. He was wrapped up with a score of 69 in the final round, to win the tournament. He is looking to repeat history at this year's tournament.
“To be able to come here and go wire to wire, take the lead on Thursday and never give it up and never really be trailing from that point on was big. To get it done in any Spanish-speaking country makes it a lot more special, there's always a little bit of extra pressure, extra motivation for me to want to win. So, it was big, it was big," said Jon Rahm.