Jon Rahm speaks to the media on the U.S. Open, a day earlier than he withdrew.
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In 2021, Jon Rahm gained the U.S. Open. But on Sunday, identical to you, he was watching on TV.
Rahm mentioned he had a lesion between his fourth and pinkie toes that turned contaminated throughout LIV Golf’s Houston occasion the weekend earlier than the U.S. Open. He withdrew from the event however confirmed up at Pinehurst No. 2 hopeful to play. He spoke with the media on Monday, however on Tuesday, he withdrew.
“After consulting with numerous doctors and my team, I have decided it is best for my long term health, to withdraw from this weeks US Open Championship,” Rahm wrote on X. “To say I’m disappointed is a massive understatement!”
So again to Sunday. When Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy had been battling down the stretch, Rahm was watching on TV. So, what did he suppose of being a fan?
For starters, he mentioned he often watches broadcasts on mute. But he additionally echoed a standard frustration many golf followers share — it’s generally extraordinarily tough to seek out out the place to observe the motion, with event rounds going from one community to the opposite and with streaming choices — that are generally the solely choice — in between.
“To go from ABC to NBC to Peacock, then back to the next thing, yeah, they should make it a little bit easier,” he mentioned, talking at this week’s LIV Golf occasion in Nashville, which Rahm plans to play. “It is an Open after all. Just turn on one channel and hopefully be able to watch the whole broadcast.”
Rahm’s largest critique, although, got here on Rory McIlroy’s decisive par miss on the 72nd gap. Tied with DeChambeau on the time, McIlroy had a par putt of 3 ft, 9 inches on the 18th gap on Sunday. It was above the outlet — by no means the place you need to be on the speedy greens of Pinehurst No. 2 — and McIlroy missed. He didn’t play sufficient break and hit it too softly, because the ball caught the precise edge and lipped out. He made bogey. In the pairing behind, DeChambeau made par and gained.
“I thought from the times I had it on and I could hear, I thought [the broadcast] was OK,” Rahm mentioned. “One of the issues that completely burned me, and I believe it was Smylie [Kaufman] who mentioned it, he severely underplayed how tough Rory’s putt on 18 was. When he mentioned it’s a left-center putt, if you happen to hit that putt left-center and miss the outlet, you’re off the inexperienced as a result of of how a lot slope there’s. You may see Rory aiming no less than a cup left from three ft. They severely underplayed how tough that putt was. Severely.
“I think that can happen a few times where unless you’ve been there on the golf course and you’re playing it or you’ve played it, it’s hard to truly explain how difficult the golf course can be,” he continued. “A lot of times they only have those five seconds to say something quickly, so I also don’t blame them. But besides that, I thought it was good.”
What Rahm was referring to was when Kaufman, the on-course reporter, mentioned seconds earlier than McIlroy struck the putt: “I got behind it, took a read. Not outside the hole. It’s a left-center putt, but you can make it if you start it right in the middle too.”
Although analyst Brandel Chamblee by no means made it sound really easy.
“Four feet, down the hill, breaking to the right,” he mentioned, after McIlroy chipped as much as the spot. “That’s not exactly the 4-footer you want. It got above the hole.”
As for Rahm’s prospects this week, he says he hasn’t been capable of do a lot, however that he feels prepared.
“I’m feeling good,” he mentioned. “I’m feeling good. The main reason for the withdrawal the two events was the infection I had and just to be precautionary towards not making it worse and seeing what steps I can take to prevent that from happening in the future. The wound is still there. I’m not going to show any graphic pictures, but it’s still there. It’s manageable now. I’m not going to really make it worse. A lot of things to follow up from what happened to make sure it heals properly and it doesn’t happen again.”
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