Gene Frenette: Golf world seeing the best of a less-combustible Jon Rahm

Jon Rahm has reached golf heights that many of his playing colleagues forecasted for him, even before the former No. 1-ranked amateur turned professional following the 2016 U.S. Open.

He has soared back to the top of the world on five different occasions since July, 2020, being the third-youngest to ascend there behind Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. Only 10 golfers in history have been No. 1 longer than the 46 weeks Rahm has occupied that position.

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The 28-year-old Spaniard is currently on a glorious stretch run reminiscent in recent years of 20-something Tiger Lights such as Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka, Jason Day and McIlroy. Though Rahm still owns just one major (2021 U.S. Open), it feels like him and world No. 2 Scottie Scheffler, 26, are superstars with the greatest upside.

But to get there, Rahm had to learn the delicate balance of channeling his occasional angry energy — none more prominent than the emotional reactions he had while shooting a career-worst, third-round 82 at The Players Championship in his 2017 rookie season — into a positive thing.

Six years later, a span that included marrying Arizona State sweetheart Kelley Cahill, and the birth of sons Kepa and Eneko, the personable Spanish fireball is clearly tapping into his massive potential.

Until his tie for 32nd finish last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Rahm had won three of his previous six Tour starts and posted six consecutive top-8 finishes.

It’s all part of a sterling resume (10 PGA Tour wins in 138 starts) that has been achieved, in no small amount, to Rahm evolving into a less-combustible player than he was before his personal life underwent big changes.

Temper, temper at The Players 

At The Players in 2017, he went into Saturday tied for 10th, but missed the third-round cut with his 82. That day, his game and emotions unraveled to greater depth than any time in his career.

Rahm shanked a 4-iron into the water at No. 4, then threw the club so hard to the ground that the handle stuck into the ground like a knife. He three-putted twice from 4 feet, heaving his ball into the trees after exiting the 10^th green.

It was just a bad day all-around, a moment in time for which Rahm’s then short fuse deserves little vilifying. What’s important is Rahm has allowed time and life circumstances to advance his game to an enviable place.

“So I was a young 22-year-old at the time,” Rahm said of his 2017 meltdown at The Players. “I had turned pro and played really good and reached the top 10 in the world very, very quickly.

“With that came a level of attention that you can’t get ready for. So a lot of that was an adjustment period to what being a top golfer in the world is like and feels like.”

Not that Rahm doesn’t have moments of frustration, but he’s managing his emotional outbursts more consistently and has rarely been outside the world top-5 in the past four years.

“A lot of it is maturing as a person and just having those experiences and learning from them, trying to be better,” said Rahm. “We all have our deficits on the golf course. For the most part of my career, being angry on the golf course has helped big time.

“But sometimes it’s been a detriment, and it’s been a couple times on the biggest stages that it has been a detriment. So just learning that a little bit. It’s life lessons. It’s learning in life. … It’s getting better, and hopefully it will keep getting better.”

There’s little evidence to suggest Rahm will go back to that place where he becomes unhinged during a round. For one thing, he’s dominating almost every relevant PGA Tour stat category, leading in scoring average (68.855), birdie average (5.32) and par-3 scoring average (2.82), just to name a few.

The best version of Rahm 

Rahm, the first player since Johnny Miller in 1975 to win three Tour events in a calendar year before March 1, is riding a wave of greatness. McIlroy, his European Ryder Cup teammate, said he knew far in advance this was coming, adding Rahm was a “top-20 player in the world” when competing in college.

“Last week wasn’t a great week for him after the great start [opening-round 65 at API], but he’s been relentless,” said McIlroy. “He’s been relentless since that first win of his at Torrey Pines [Farmer’s Insurance Open in January, 2017].

“He’s just, year after year, he wins. He’s always up there, he’s so consistent. His top-10 percentage rate is off the charts.”

That Rahm number is an astounding 50 percent with 69 top-10s in 138 Tour events. By comparison, the career numbers in that category for Woods are .535 (199 of 372) and McIlroy is at .477 (107 of 224).

In two of Rahm’s previous five appearances at The Players, he found himself in Sunday contention, but quickly faded. His one-shot lead in 2019 over McIlroy (who won) and Tommy Fleetwood evaporated with a final-round 76, dropping him into a tie for 12^th. Three years ago, he was tied for fifth — four shots behind Lee Westwood — and ended up six shots worse than winner Justin Thomas after a final-round 73.

Rahm left little doubt about the impact if he finally wins at the Stadium Course, saying: “I think there is a difference between strictly World Ranking points, money and FedEx Cup points and then the legacy that a tournament has. I mean, winning this event is a big step forward to a Hall-of-Fame career.”

It’d almost take a cataclysmic collapse for Rahm not to be HOF-bound one day. His career achievements in less than seven years are pretty close to rarefied air by Tour standards.

The golfer many pegged a long time ago to be on top of the world has fulfilled that destiny and he’s just getting started. Whatever self-inflicted missteps he had on the course with his temper have been greatly minimized, and elite golfers know that’s no easy task.

“Yeah, it’s hard,” said McIlroy. “I think when you’re younger, I think it’s a little more difficult to see the bigger picture. Every opportunity you get, every round you play feels like the biggest moment ever.

“But then when you sort of take a step back and you think about a career in golf, especially with how young Jon started or how young I started, over the course of 30 years you’re going to play a ton of golf tournaments, you’re going to have a ton of opportunities. So it makes a lot of those moments seem a little more manageable whenever you can sort of see the bigger picture better.”

Rahm sees that long-term view now. He’s not a kid anymore, but a seasoned elite player who finds joy in something more than a good golf score.

“I always said I played my best golf when I’m happy,” said Rahm. “I’m not happy because I’m playing my best golf. So a lot of what I’ve done to improve personally has been outside the golf course.”

The golf world is seeing the best of John Rahm. The fire and passion that comes from within is still there. He’s just less flammable when bad things happen.

Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Spanish fireball: With temper in check, Jon Rahm king of the golf world