Jon Rahm has become something of an adopted Scotsman in Royal Troon this week after Spain beat England in the EURO 2024 final in Berlin on Sunday night.
Sport is for the Spanish this summer with the Spanish footballers adding to Carlos Alcaraz’s French Open and Wimbledon double while Sergio Garcia earned his maiden win on the LIV tour at the weekend.
Rahm played absolutely no role in any of those successes but he has been receiving congratulatory cheers from the crowd during the practice rounds ahead of the 152nd Open Championship.
“I noticed that yesterday. Played all 18 holes yesterday, and I think I got more congratulations for something that I didn’t do than I ever have in my life, so yeah,” chuckled Rahm.
“I don’t know what they’ve done, but anytime anybody plays against the English national team, every other country in Europe just unifies against them. I don’t know why or what they’ve done. I’m not aware of the history.
“I think because we’ve heard “It’s Coming Home” so many times the last few years, that nobody wants to see it come home at this point.
“Yeah, it’s definitely been a great month for Spanish sports. A lot of history being done, with Alcaraz being the sixth player to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year and get into four Grand Slams at a very young age, Spain winning the fourth European championship, and Sergio and his team doing what they did on Sunday.
“Quite special, quite special. Coming back to a venue like this with so much history, it would be quite incredible to earn an Open Championship on this golf course in this tournament.
“It’s arguably my favorite week in golf, and to maybe even continue that, this stretch of great Spanish sports, I mean, it would be absolutely fantastic on top of all the many things that would make this week or this championship incredible.”
Rahm who is a keen football fan himself and an Athletic Bilbao supporter is teammates with Tyrrell Hatton on LIV Golf but he says he will be keeping any gloating with the English players to himself.
“No, because the second I see one of them or they acknowledge me or any other Spanish golfer for that matter, the first instant is the, they’re all smiling and they’re, like, ugh. They know I’m either going to say something or the face they make says it all for me.
“You get the occasional joke of, oh, it should have been a hand ball against Germany and a couple of those things, but no, I’m not going to be one to make them feel that pain anymore.”
A proud Spaniard and European, Rahm’s Ryder Cup future for the 2025 contest in Bethpage Black remains in doubt as he has yet to pay his fines to the DP World and PGA Tours, he also wants to tee it up in the Spanish Open this year.
We’re still in conversations with the Tour. I haven’t been able to play any Tour events, so yeah, we’re going to have to sort it out before I want to tee it up hopefully at the Spanish Open.
At this point, I’m so still waiting on what might happen with my wife and daughter that I don’t know if I’ll be able to play or not. So my fall is still a little bit of a question mark when it comes to playing golf.
“I haven’t paid yet, but again, I just don’t know when I’m going to play.”
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