Jon Rahm has shared what he will rarely do with his golf bag ahead of a tournament as he prepares for LIV Golf’s inaugural event in South Africa this week.
Rahm is going to be the favourite to secure his second win of the season in the coming days. The Spaniard has been playing some sublime golf in the early stages of the year.
He won in Hong Kong, while his worst finish in his first four starts was fifth place in Singapore this past week.
Jon Rahm explains what he rarely does with his golf bag before a tournament
LIV Golf is heading to a new destination this week, with expectations high for South Africa’s debut event. There appears to be hope that the tournament could push Adelaide as the flagship week on the calendar.
Some players may find the adjustment tricky. The ball is likely to travel a lot further through the air, while many of those in the field will not have a lot of experience of playing on kikuyu grass.
Some may be tempted to change things around in their bag. But Rahm will not be one of those this week.
Speaking to the media ahead of the opening round, the two-time major champion explained how much different his setup could be for this event.
“I travel with the absolute minimum clubs I need. Honestly, my whole career there’s been very little change. Unless we have obviously the new clubs, new irons or new driver or whatever it may be, the only change I have in the bag is either playing five wood or two iron. That’s it. I don’t change my wedges. I don’t change anything,” he said.
“I feel like thinking about having to change clubs is more complicated for me than having to adjust whatever I’m going to do myself technique-wise on the golf course. With these fairways, I think the main thing is that the ball sits up so high, you do get a bit more of a solid strike, so irons can go a little bit further. As long as you’re aware of it, there’s nothing else that needs to be changed.
“So yeah, in my case, I don’t like to change, especially tournament week. Yeah, it seems like a bit of an over-complication for me, at least for my type of game.”
Rahm reacts to LIV Golf’s season starting with four different winners
Rahm is one of four different winners LIV Golf has had since the start of the season. Elvis Smylie won in Riyadh before Anthony Kim‘s incredible victory in Adelaide in February.
Bryson DeChambeau opened his account with his win in Singapore. By contrast, Joaquin Niemann had already won twice at this stage of last season, while Rahm had not won at all.
And Rahm suggested that the victories being shared around showcases the strength of the league.
“There’s high level of golf in the league, and there’s always going to be certain people that can consistently play at a certain level. But anybody can win any given week, and I think last week is a perfect example of that,” he said.
“With Elvis, we’ve had a bit of a history as a league, in the short history, of a new player coming in and winning right away. I don’t know why that’s happened. We’ve had a few players. I can think of Henrik and Cam and Elvis alone, or if not winning, doing a good job as well.
“I think it’s fantastic. The more diversity we get, the better. It’s never easy to win, and I think hopefully some of us up here can get more wins if not all four of us.”
Rahm will be hoping to become the first two-time winner of the season this week, particularly with The Masters just around the corner now.
