You may not know this, but Jon Rahm’s team in the LIV Golf series is called Legion XIII. It sounds a bit like he is one of the forerunners in a march of doom. Which, in terms of the cleavage that separates golf, it probably is.
Anyway, it’s called Legion Thirteen. Bad luck for some.
Of course, Rahm wasn’t out of luck when it came to the money he needed to sign for LIV.
After speaking out against the Saudi-backed series in the past, he reportedly decided to take £450 million. He thought about securing his family’s future, probably because he had not yet earned enough from the sport.
But there’s also a price for what Rahm did, and as he walked to the first tee at Augusta National just before noon on a gloriously sunny Georgia day, there was a distinct feeling that he was beginning to pay it.
Jon Rahm just barely managed to finish in the top 50 in his defense of the Green Jacket
Rahm looked lukewarm, bitter and uninspired as he returned to Augusta after joining LIV Golf
As Rahm, 29, stood staring at the first fairway that drops into a valley and then ascends the hill beyond, he knew this was his last day as the reigning Masters champion and that a return to the gilded darkness of LIV Golf stretched ahead . for him.
He played his final round with the air of a man who is beginning to realize he has made a terrible mistake. He was the king of the world and the entire gulf stretched out before him, waiting to be conquered. And then he sabotaged it all.
He ruined his legacy by turning his back on regular golf at the height of his powers and joining a tour with a 54-hole format, where the lack of intensity appears to have left Rahm extremely unprepared for a return to the demands of more competitive golf. .
His move to LIV has also changed the perception of him. It has damaged his image and dampened his popularity.
When he arrived at the first green yesterday, he saw a half-empty grandstand.
Last year he was on top of the world, but now he looks like a man who knows he made a mistake
A smaller crowd followed the 2023 champion around Augusta National after his defection
It didn’t feel like we were watching the reigning Masters champion. It felt like we were watching a man screw up when he was at his peak.
Those same stands are packed when Rory McIlroy plays for them. And Tiger Forest. And Scottie Scheffler.
But not Rahm. Not anymore. His popularity has plummeted.
“He’s been playing resort courses in shorts for the last few months and hasn’t really been tested yet,” three-time Masters winner Sir Nick Faldo said on the eve of the tournament.
‘Rahm is a great player, but he will have to put in some effort to reach the right intensity. We’ll have to wait and see whether he isn’t really sharp enough because he hasn’t tested himself that much yet.’
Faldo’s doubts were quickly confirmed. To no one’s surprise, it turns out that the highlight of Rahm’s week in Augusta was the championship dinner he hosted in the clubhouse on Tuesday night.
He chose the menu and served beautiful Basque specialties. The rest of the week he served tripe.
Rahm shakes hands with Nick Dunlap after completing his second round and making the cut
Rahm (pictured with Greg Norman) signed a deal worth a reported £450 million in late 2023
He is not a demonstrative man at the best of times, but many noted during the four days of the tournament that his behavior was even more joyless and sour than usual.
He’s not the first to struggle with winning the Masters, but his defense of his title was particularly tepid, bitter and uninspired.
Most of the damage was done with a four in the second round over par 76 and he raised eyebrows by blaming the gusty conditions and hinting that he thought Augusta National should have stopped play because of the disruption caused by the weather caused.
But the truth is, Rahm didn’t undershoot a single round all week. Even he would have found it hard to blame it all on the weather. On Sunday he shot 76 again. The sky was blue and the day was hot and still.
Maybe it wasn’t the circumstances that caused the problems for Rahm’s game after all.
Rahm hosted the Masters Champions Dinner on Wednesday, a long-standing Augusta tradition
He saved his worst round of the week for last. He made a reasonable start, but then dropped four shots in a four-hole space around the turn, causing his club to fall from his hands in dismay after a particularly bad tee shot. He made a double bogey on the 10th after a bump-and-run chip that climbed the slope toward the green and then rolled back down.
He made a double bogey on the 16th after leaving his tee shot short and watching it roll down the bank in front of the green and bounce into the pond.
He finished with two pars and a score of nine over. It was his worst performance ever in the Masters.
Before this year, before this title defense, his worst cumulative tournament total was 292. This year it was 297. And so now it’s back to Legion XIII and its ominous march. The next stop for LIV Golf is the Grange Golf Club in Adelaide at the end of the month.
Rahm was thinking about securing his family’s future when he joined LIV, probably because he had not yet earned enough from the sport
Rahm has already admitted he misses some of the events he used to play on the PGA Tour, but now he’s returning to a series that sells itself as Golf but Louder.
It doesn’t seem to fit Rahm’s ethos or his personality, but he’s stuck with it now. The overwhelming feeling of seeing him bow out as a Masters champion was sadness that it has come to this. He looked and played like a man who was getting smaller. A man who has reduced himself to a paycheque.
Rahm finished with the same total as Jose Maria Olazabal this year. Olazabal is one of the other three Spaniards to have won the Masters and is a legend of the game. He is almost thirty years older than Rahm and is also regarded with almost universal respect.
One day, Rahm may discover that no amount of money can buy you that.