Jon Rahm arrives at Augusta National Golf Club as the defending champion of The Masters. In what has been a tumultuous six months for the former World Number One, we break down the career, of the now Legion XIII captain, and delve into what has led him into the position he finds himself in now.

Growing up in the small coastal town of Barrika, in northern Spain, aged just two, Rahm was taken to the 1997 Ryder Cup at Valderamma by his parents who weren’t even fans of the game. But that experience of seeing Severiano Ballesteros lead the European Team to victory over the Americans got them hooked. That then naturally led Jon to picking up the game himself aged six.

Taking the game more seriously around 12 years of age he got good, quick. And by 14 he was travelling around the country and winning amateur tournaments while also studying at high school in Madrid. It wasn’t long before Jon began making a name for himself and decided to choose golf as a career. 

Deciding on Arizona State, Rahm was coached there by Tim Mickelson, where he won 11 college tournaments second only to Tim’s brother Phil. 

He became the only player to win the Ben Hogan award twice and come 5th, as an amateur, in the Phoneix Open on the PGA Tour in 2015. Three shots back from eventual winner Brooks Koepka.

On 1st April 2015 Jon became the World Number One Amateur, a combined feet of 60 weeks total. A record which still stands today. Picking up the 2015 Mark H. McCormack Medal in doing so.

Finishing out his amateur career in 2016 after playing the US Open and collecting the low amateur medal, Rahm made the decision to turn pro, forfitting his place in the Open Championship. A decision that maybe was a blessing in disguise, as the very following week he competed in the PGA Tour’s Quicken Loan’s National where he finished in a tie for 3rd place, earning his qualification spot back into the Open at Troon. Rahm was off and running. 

Playing off temporary membership on the PGA Tour, Rahm would go on to still earn enough points to hold a PGA tour card for the 2017 season.

And it again didn’t take him long to make his mark. In January 2017 he claimed his first PGA Tour victory by winning the Farmers Insurance Open (pictured right) after holing a 60-foot eagle putt on the 18th hole – moving him from 137th to 36th in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR).

In his second WGC event, the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, Rahm debuted as the No. 21-seed in the field of 64 and made it through to the final where he was runner-up to Dustin Johnson in the championship match – but still moving up to a new career-high world ranking of 14th.

He also enjoyed a stellar first season on the then European Tour in 2017 – in which he was named Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year – and he became the first player to win multiple Rolex Series events with victories at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by the Rory Foundation and the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai. 

“What I’ve done this year, especially on The European Tour from no member, nothing, to an affiliate to European Tour Champion to actually be a Rolex Series Champion and to now twice Rolex Series Champion and winner of the DP World Tour Championship, it’s something unbelievable,” said Rahm.

He kick started the 2018 season with his second PGA Tour victory, making it his fourth win in 38 professional starts and a move up to second in the OWGR. A ratio of wins only better than Tiger Woods from the last 30 years.

Rahm won on home soil for the first time as a professional, emerging victorious at the Open de España on the European Tour, then going on to make his Ryder Cup debut in 2018, beating Tiger Woods in the Sunday Singles as Thomas Bjørn’s side stormed to an historic victory at Le Golf National.

Patrick Smith/Getty Images

The Zurich Classic was Rahm’s third PGA Tour title and a second Dubai Duty Free Irish Open title was added to his trophy cabinet at Lahinch Golf Club in 2019 to become the first three-time Rolex Series winner. Rahm defended his Open de España title that same year, winning his fifth European Tour title in just his 39th appearance – ten fewer than his golfing idol Seve Ballesteros.

A year which was capped off by winning the season-long Race to Dubai after his victory at the European Tour’s season finale, the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

He sent records tumbling at the 2020 WGC-Mexico Championship, carding a ten under par round of 61, which included a hole-in-one on the par-3 17th at Chapultepec Golf Club, to record the lowest round of his career and the joint lowest round in the history of the World Golf Championships.

Those wins came in a year when he sprung to global prominence and victory at the Memorial Tournament rose him to World Number One, becoming just the second Spaniard player to do so after Seve.

“It’s pretty surreal to think it’s happened this quickly, right, in less than 10 years,” said the now World Number One.

“I mean, how many people get to achieve a lifelong dream, in their mid-20s? It’s incredible. To be the second Spaniard to ever do it, given there’s not many Europeans that have gotten to this spot, it’s a pretty unique feeling, so I’m going to enjoy it for a while.”

There was only one more goal to reach for Rahm and that was a Major Championship. He wouldn’t have to wait long.

Rahm started the final day of the 2021 US Open three strokes back, and birdies on the 17th and 18th holes at Torrey Pines gave him a one-stroke victory over Louis Oosthuizen, for his first Major Championship and to become the first player from Spain to win the US Open.

Rahm would finish no lower than T8 in the four Majors in 2021, winning the US Open, T3 at The Open, T5 at the Masters and T8 at the US PGA Championship.

David Cannon/Getty Images

A second Ryder Cup appearance for Rahm was in the bag as he claimed Europe’s top performer at the 2021 Ryder Cup, earning 3.5 points as he formed a formidable partnership with Sergio Garcia at Whistling Straights, whom he also cites as a hero and influence.

He would have to wait 11 months for his next victory which came in the Mexico Open in May 2022. A catalyst for Rahm as he would go on to emulate Ballesteros’s feat of winning three Open de España titles in the modern era as he won his third national Open in just four appearances. While also becoming the first player to win the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai on three occasions as he finished two strokes clear of a world-class field at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

His hottest stretch of golf surely would be classed at the start of 2023. Three PGA Tour victories in the span of just seven weeks as he notched the Sentry Tournament of Champions, The American Express for the second time, and Tiger’s Genesis Invitational. Lining him up perfectly for a run at Augusta…

After a rain-affected third round of the 2023 Masters, play resumed on Sunday morning, where Rahm overturned a four-stroke deficit with 30 holes left to play, eventually finishing two strokes clear of LIV Golfers Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson at Augusta National.

A second Major Championship for Rahm also made him become the first player from Europe to have won both the US Open and the Masters, the latter being on what would have been Seve’s birthday and 40 years since his second Masters title.

“For me to get it done on the 40th anniversary of his win, his birthday, on Easter Sunday, it’s incredibly meaningful.

“To finish it off the way I did — an unusual par, very much a Seve par, it was in a non-purposeful way, a testament to him, and I know he was pulling for me today, and it was a great Sunday.”

Signing off a super 2023, Rahm earned three points from four matches as he made his third Ryder Cup appearance at Marco Simone in Rome. From hitting the opening tee shot on Friday afternoon to going head-to-head with then World Number One Scottie Scheffler in the Sunday Singles. Rahm helped Europe regain the trophy after losing it two years prior at Whistling Striaghts.

Mike Stobe/LIV Golf

In what seemed like everything was going one way for Rahm, in a surprise decision in December 2023, it was then announced to the golfing world that Rahm was joining LIV Golf. Shockwaves in golf, as in February 2022, amid discussion of the LIV Golf League, Rahm said, “I wanted to take this time to say that this is my official, my one and only time to talk about this, where I am officially declaring my loyalty to the PGA Tour.”

But what changed? Fast forward to the start of 2024, Rahm was quoted explaining his decision.

“When I said that [in June 2022] I fully meant it and it was true. Now, when they slap you with a large amount of money in your face, your feelings do change. I try not to be a materialistic person, but I do owe it to my family as well to set them up for success the best I can, and having kids I think changed that quite a bit.

“Well, the weeks leading up to the announcement weren’t the easiest. Even through the process of negotiations, it was just very, very deep waters compared to what I’m used to.

“Once it became public, the reaction was pretty much what I expected. The ones that are close friends that maybe had an idea or not have supported me, and obviously there’s some people that are going to disagree with any decision we make in life.”

A decision that seemed to have proved dividends for Rahm as he has already picked up his first team trophy with Legion XIII in the season-opening LIV Golf Mayakoba.

Next up for him is LIV Golf Miami, the week before he heads to Augusta National to defend his title and aims to become the first LIV Golfer to win The Masters. We will wait and see.

Main image: Chris Trotman/LIV Golf