“I miss not being at some venues”: Jon Rahm not afraid to express his fondness for the PGA Tour despite his LIV Golf switch 

There are two attributes that set Jon Rahm apart. His skill/ability on a golf course and the passion he is not scared to wear on his sleeve. Here to defend the Green Jacket, he began by saying, “The jump from no majors to U.S. Open was smaller than what it was from the U.S. Open to the Masters.”

Then within microseconds, he quickly added,

“It is the biggest tournament in the world, with no offense to anything else, but it's probably the most followed one by people that don't even play golf.”

He is certainly the most ‘missed’ golfer, who went to the ‘other’ side. And even diehard PGA Tour fans are not afraid to say that they miss him.

Jon Rahm’s $500 million move from PGA Tour to LIV Golf was like a dagger to the heart for many PGA fans and players alike. Rahm will return to compete against the PGA Tour players for the first time since his LIV switch this week at the Masters.

Asked how much he misses not being around the TOUR and the guys like Schefflers and Rorys.

Jon Rahm didn’t hold back,

“I haven't given it that much thought because I've been so focused on what I have to do myself. There is no secret, I've mentioned a few times, that there are some venues that I miss not being at, not only because I won but just because I love it, right? And that's the reason why I played well in those tournaments. Not being at Palm Springs, Torrey, Phoenix and L.A. wasn't the easiest. And I'll keep saying that because those are venues that I absolutely love.”

He added,

“Driving by Phoenix as often as I had to, seeing the stands, and knowing that I wasn't going to be there was quite hard. I still love the PGA TOUR, and I still hope everything is the best, and I still hope that at some point I can compete there again.”

Jon Rahm talks about competing in team events and compares them to the likes of NFL Superbowl or NBA Finals

The Spanish golf star stated that he missed competing against “certain people”. He further elaborated on his roles as a team leader and captain.

The Spaniard mentioned,

“The dynamic has changed a little bit. Obviously. I'm a team leader, and a team captain, to an extent. It's still golf. I can't influence what they do on the golf course.”

It may even have taken him a lot to hold back some tears, but the emotion and passion of competing with the best is so clearly intense.

He added,

“A lot of positives to look forward to. I've had a lot of fun playing in those events. The competition's still there. Yeah, they're smaller fields, but you still have to beat some of the best players in the world and you still have to play at the same level you have to play on the PGA TOUR to win those events. So that doesn't change.

The defending Masters champion also admitted he's relishing the opportunity to be part of a team in Golf. The Spaniard added that it was “one of the driving factors” for him to jump ship from PGA to LIV. Jon Rahm has definitely enjoyed the team victories that give him a sense of family.

“Something that I was jealous of from many other sports, right? When you win as an individual, right, like take it here, for example, last year, you did all your commitments, you woke up the next day, and that's it. It's not like there's a shared emotion after that like you see when a team maybe wins a Super Bowl or the NBA Finals or the World Series.”

Rahm is quite easily the ultimate team man. No wonder he wants to be back at the Ryder Cup. Even Rory McIlroy, the most vocal of Liv critics, talks of finding a way to get Jon Rahm into the team.

The Ryder Cup is a little over a year away, and so is Jon Rahm concerned?

“Am I concerned? Yeah, I hope I can be there. I hope I play well enough to earn my way there. And if I have to be picked, I hope I can get picked. Yeah, I want to be there. That's something I want to do and I don't want to miss,” said Rahm, preferring to say exactly what his heart wanted to say.

Let the golf war be damned. We want golf. That seemed to be the message. From Jon Rahm and from many others. He just put them into words.