Jon Rahm grew up watching and worshiping the Tiger Woods game. When asked by reporters if he got any advice from his idol on playing at Augusta National, Rahm's answer was surprising.
Although he has gotten advice from the likes of Phil Mickelson and Jose Maria Olazabal on playing at the Masters, he hasn't gotten any from Tiger Woods.
As per the Spanish star, there was only one person who was getting some good suggestions from the 82-time winner on Tour, and that was Justin Thomas.
“I think there's only one man in this field that hears advice from Tiger because I've asked before and I get nothing. So, you might need to ask Justin Thomas…,” Rahm told reporters.
The former No. 1 jokingly accused Tiger of favoritism. However, the accusations might not be entirely false, especially in Masters' case. Woods had done practice with Justin Thomas and Fred Couples earlier and had taken Thomas to Augusta National for a scouting trip.
Rahm, on the other hand, hasn't been lucky in this regard. Rahm recalled the incident at the Tour Championship when he asked Wood for suggestions for Bermuda.
“He turned around and said, ‘It’s all about feel,’ and just kept going,” Rahm said while recalling the incident of his meeting with Woods.
"I was like, ‘Cool, thank you.'" Rahm replied sarcastically.
Rahm recalled another incident involving him asking the 15-time Major for advice in Albany.
“I asked him at Albany once about chipping into the grain. ‘You just got to be shallow.' Okay. Meanwhile, I turn around and JT's there with him, and he's getting a whole dissertation on what to do,” said Rahm jokingly.
Fans react to Jon Rahm's comments
A user felt Rahm was being salty.
Another felt Jon was jealous.
"little pissed he ain't your friend like JT"
"Jon gets advice from Phil and Sergio he can't complain about that"
Justin Thomas on his relationship with Tiger
Justin Thomas was also questioned about his relationship with Woods and how close they are. Thomas said that he didn't ask Woods specifics and that the questions were posed in a manner similar to how he would ask Rahm or Jordan Spieth.
“Any person or buddy that I respect their game and I think that they are really good and they maybe are a little bit better at something that I am not as consistently good at, like I want to learn, so I'm going to ask a question."
Thomas also said that Tiger has been good to him and he felt very fortunate about this.
"I’m not going to tell you the advice that’s been most valuable to me because frankly I don’t want other competitors to know,” Thomas said jokingly.
"Justin has become the little brother I never had" - Tiger Woods
The Thomas-Wood’s bond is quite strong as Tiger described him as akin to a family member. He felt Thomas was like an older sibling to Charlie and a little brother to himself.
"We have become so close that I think Charlie's like Justin's little brother he never had and Justin has become the little brother I never had. We are extremely close with the family and we do a lot of things together..." Woods said, describing his relationship with Justin Thomas during the PNC Championship 2021.