Jon Rahm, Tom McKibbin’s Legion XIII team captain at LIV Golf, believes that the 23-year-old has “all the tools” necessary to become a major champion, and that’s music to the ears of the young Hollywood man who now has wins on both the DP World and Asian Tours along with back-to-back LIV Golf Team Championship victories.
“As golfers, we always tend to put ourselves down a little bit and always search for better,” McKibbin said when asked about Rahm’s praise. “Hearing stuff like that definitely puts your mind at ease.
“Coming from someone of such high calibre, it’s pretty cool to hear. Those are the things I’d love to strive towards.”
McKibbin will tee it up in his fifth Irish Open at Doonbeg, and though he’s yet to finish inside the top 10, he’s quietly confident that his gradual improvement on links turf and his strong tee-to-green game could see him challenging at the top of the leaderboard for the first time in his National Open.
“I’m excited and very hopeful that my game can definitely play well around here,” he said. “I’ve definitely started to embrace the challenge a bit more of links golf over the last couple of years, and feel like I’ve definitely gotten better at it.
“If I can keep the ball in front of me and hit the ball the way I normally would, I could definitely have a good chance.”
McKibbin and the other 137 competitors won’t have it easy as rain is forecast to accompany winds which are projected to gust to 50 kmph and above, meaning that potential disaster lurks at every turn, particularly on a golf course that’s already a challenge at the best of times.
“The golf course seems pretty hard even without any wind,” McKibbin explained. “It’s blowing 30 miles an hour, so it’s definitely going to be a good challenge, and it could be a long week.”
McKibbin has made no secret of his desires to put himself in the frame for selection for the Ryder Cup at Adare Manor in 2027, and what better opportunity to do it than with European captain Luke Donald for company over the first 36 holes.
The Newtownabbey man (23) has several years of his LIV Golf contract to run. And while he intends to honour it as things stand, he has a chance this week to grab his second DP World Tour win and thrust himself into contention for a Ryder Cup debut next year.
His results on LIV this season haven’t been particularly impressive on paper, but on reflection, he feels that his play was better than the results suggest.
“Throughout the whole year I’ve been very steady,” he said. “I felt like I was in a sort of a block where I seemed to finish between 15th and 20th every week.
“I felt like I was playing worse than I did last year because the results weren’t as good.
“Then, when I sat back and looked at it, I realised it’s been very consistent. I’ve stayed very patient throughout that, and the game has stayed similar.
“I’ve started to putt quite nicely, and that’s producing a couple of good results, which definitely excites me for the rest of the year.”
Like most LIV players, McKibbin remains in limbo with uncertainty regarding the league’s future and what shape ‘LIV 2.0’ might have. He remains under contract, and intends to take a ‘wait-and-see’ approach, but ultimately is resigned to the fact that the situation is out of his hands and he’ll play wherever he’s obliged to.
“I have to play where I have to play, I guess,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed LIV the last couple of years. It’s been great for me and my game. So we’ll see what they have to do.
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