Jon Rahm posted a hugely impressive opening round of 65 on day one of the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship on Thursday.
Rahm’s superb performance on Thursday in Abu Dhabi came the day after the news broke that LIV Golf is on the verge of collapsing.
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The Spaniard had already declared that he will not be continuing with LIV Golf 2.0 before the news broke about the league’s problems on Wednesday.
Jon Rahm will most likely have to play on the DP World Tour next year in order to return to the PGA Tour in 2028, unless he is offered a similar deal to the one that Brooks Koepka received in January.
Rahm is obviously keen to return to the PGA Tour, but his return will clearly not be a straightforward one.
No big names signed up for LIV Golf 2.0 and, with the league clearly now dead in the water, the superstars who plied their trade on the league will now have to focus their full attention on the DP World Tour, for the time being at least.
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Rahm spoke to reporters after making seven birdies and 11 pars on day one at Yas Links.
He responded when asked how he feels about his performance on Thursday in Abu Dhabi.
“Yeah, obviously a very good score. I think the highlight today was my iron game. I was very good with the irons. I gave myself plenty of chances and obviously holed a few,“ Rahm said.
“I would say, though, I got away with a couple of bad swings. Hit a bad tee shot on 3, and it ended up in the middle of the fairway. A bad tee shot on 11, and being able to find that and have a birdie putt. So a few bad swings that I got away with. But overall, yeah, I played really nice today.
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“I think sometimes when your expectation is a little lower than usual, where I just kept thinking, listen, if we have a bad day, we have a bad day.
“But I just kind of took it one shot at a time, made a couple beautiful swings early on, great second shot on 2, and that kind of got things going. That second shot on 3 as well, making basically three iron swings — the 4-iron on 1, the 5-iron on 2, and then 8-iron on 3 — gave me some good confidence.“
Rahm was asked how he managed to shoot such a low score on a golf course that he is completely unfamiliar with.
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“I think sometimes it can be a blessing, just not knowing where some of the trouble may be, right? You just kind of focus on what you can see,“ the Spaniard replied.
“I think sometimes it helps to not be overly aggressive. On the hole like 10, I think it’s easy to maybe want to hit driver, but not quite comfortable with the lines, just lay it out, but giving myself a chance. And overall just trust in your feel more than what you’ve seen in the past. It can be a blessing.
“Other times, especially around the greens, just not knowing how the ball can react. A hole like 17 today, knowing how difficult that pin is, and basically knowing how to hit it close may be beneficial if you know how to play it.
“But as far as my experience goes, sometimes just not overcomplicating things is what makes it a little bit easier. But I had a lot of work to do on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to get comfortable enough with all the lines off the tee.“
