Jon Rahm gets another big podium at the Paris Olympics, then it’s a wait until April in Augusta – Winnipeg Free Press

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France (AP) — Jon Rahm loves the big stage, the big crowd, the big moment. The Olympics offer an extra chance in a year marked by his departure to the Saudi-funded LIV Golf, and the Spaniard arrived at the Paris Games with a much-needed boost of confidence.

Rahm won the LIV Golf event in England on Sunday, continuing his streak of eight consecutive years of winning anywhere in the world since his first full year as a pro.

“It was important for a lot of reasons,” he said Tuesday. “But once you’ve done it, and you put yourself in a certain position the next time … I’ve been there, done it recently. So you have that nice reminder that it’s done, so it’s always a little bit of an added bonus.”

The problem is that not many people noticed.

LIV Golf United Kingdom was expected to sell out and have one of the biggest galleries of the year. But the breakaway league still doesn’t have a network television deal and coverage is minimal compared to the PGA Tour. Rahm was one of the bigger stories because it’s been April 2023 since his last Masters win.

Now it’s a matter of transferring that winning feeling to a different, smaller field of participants: 60 players at the Olympic Games, compared to 54 players at the LIV, with a much stronger cast of characters.

He finished seventh in the British Open two weeks ago, a bright spot in what has otherwise been a dark year in the majors for Rahm. He narrowly made the cut at the Masters. He missed the cut at the PGA Championship. He had a foot infection that kept him out of the U.S. Open.

And then he showed his enthusiasm at Royal Troon, after which he ended 15 months without a win.

The Olympics caught his attention, as a positive COVID-19 test the day before he was due to leave for Japan ruled him out of the 2021 Tokyo Games.

And then there’s that little thing about the big stage.

After this week, Rahm will have to wait 249 days before he takes on all the best players at Augusta National in April. For those who didn’t qualify for the Olympics, like Bryson DeChambeau, the wait was even longer.

Only the four majors bring together the best players in the world. The Olympics are a bonus with a field including Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland.

“I don’t know if that makes it more meaningful,” Rahm said. “Because I’ve never been to the Olympics before, it means a lot to be there. It’s something special. You could say it’s a little bit more, because we only get to play each other so many times.

“We all know it’s a pretty big stage,” he said. “As a competitor, you want to win the biggest tournaments. It’s nice that we get an extra week this year to enjoy that.”

Rahm is one of seven LIV Golf players who will compete in the Olympics, but he is the only one who is certain to play in one of the majors next year.

Rahm has only fond memories of Le Golf National, the venue where he made his Ryder Cup debut in 2018, beating Tiger Woods in the singles event.

He especially remembers the first day, when he warmed up next to a horseshoe-shaped grandstand with 88 rows of seats all the way to the top.