Jon Rahm’s Struggles at the Masters and the Question of His Future
Jon Rahm, the Spanish golfer known for his intensity and skill, has been experiencing a noticeable shift in his performance on the golf course. When he becomes frustrated with himself, which seems to be happening more frequently, he often swears in English. This peculiar habit highlights the internal conflict that appears to be growing within him. What is he now? Is he still one of the best players in the game? Probably yes. But is he even close to the level he once reached or could have achieved?
This question is difficult to answer, especially when looking at his recent results at the Masters. His scorecards this week have been underwhelming, and it’s clear that he hasn’t been performing at his peak. During his third round at Augusta National, he seemed out of place among the early starters, which is a polite way of saying he was an also-ran.
Despite making the cut just in time, Rahm, who was the pre-tournament favorite and the 2023 champion, didn’t look like the player he once was. He had spoken after his first-round 78 about needing a “miracle” and followed up his 70 with an admission that only a “heck of a round” might save his week. Finishing an hour before Rory McIlroy even started, he carded a 73, which means he went backwards again. It’s hard not to think that his career has been heading in the same direction since joining LIV in late 2023.
The £400 million deal he signed with LIV is a topic of much debate. Some argue that it was a mistake, while others believe it was a matter of priorities. At 31, there’s evidence suggesting that his prime years are slipping away. His relevance among the top players has diminished, leading to nostalgia-based predictions and reality checks on the biggest stages.
It’s important to note that Rahm isn’t a bad golfer by any stretch. His major finishes since the end of 2023 include T45, cut, injured, T7, T14, T8, T7, T34, and whatever he delivers on Sunday, which is likely to be deep into double digits. Objectively, that’s a good body of work, but everything is relative.
Back in 2021, when Rahm won the US Open, he was never lower than eighth in a major. In his final season as a PGA Tour player in 2023, he not only won the Masters but also finished second at the Open and 10th at the US Open. That was his level, supported by 17 other titles between 2017 and 2023 on the DP World Tour and PGA Tour.
Unfortunately, the slide is unmistakable from a player who was expected to spend an entire era in battle with McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler. He can perform well in the smaller fields and gentler courses of LIV, where he has been excellent in 2026, but there are too many blunt, faded stars on his day-to-day tour.
When asked about this, he denies it, as he did rather tetchily on Friday. He has previously denied the rumour of ‘buyer’s remorse’ since moving. Tyrrell Hatton, his LIV teammate, told me last year that those assumptions are little more than “media bull****,” but many important figures in golf believe it to be true.
A senior figure on the DP World Tour told me earlier this week under the grand oak tree outside the Augusta clubhouse. It’s where the great and good mingle and do deals, and Rahm’s agent has been there most days. It’s tempting to wonder if Rahm has ever privately questioned whether they were right to sign the biggest deal of all.
We’ve seen Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed quit LIV in the past few months, and there’s no certainty that Bryson DeChambeau will get the $500 million he is apparently requesting to stay beyond this year. If he goes, where does that leave LIV? And where does it leave Rahm, having gone all-in on this concept, with a contract understood to run through 2027? For now, we’re seeing a golfer in no-man’s land, stubbornly committed to a nonsensical row with the DP World Tour over unpaid fines. A place in the next Ryder Cup, the final domain where his stock is enormous, remains in peril if he doesn’t back down.
We tried to discuss that with him earlier in the week and met a minor protestation that he was here to talk about the Masters. The place where many of us, myself included, tipped him to win. But he did let a few thoughts slip and offered an assurance he will be at Adare Manor in 2027, albeit to some surprise from the Tour with whom he is currently squabbling.
To watch him play golf is still to get reminders that he can play shots like few others. Also, that he is a massive draw to galleries wherever he competes. But this third round was sad and summed up somewhat by his final hole, where for the third time in a handful of hours he shouted ‘fore right’ off the tee before playing his next shot from an awkward stance under a bush. There was magic in the pitch over sand that gave him an eight-footer to save par, and there was an inevitability that he then missed the putt.
That, sadly, has been the story of his week and much of the past three years. When he wrapped up, he had little to say. “I came in with the same expectations I come into any other major, any other tournament – not any higher or lower,” he said. “If I knew the why, two things: I’m probably not going to say it right now, and I would have tried to avoid it if I knew.”
He sounded confused. As are all the onlookers who swear by memories of what he could do in the not-so-distant past.
