Jon Rahm did not have a very fun time at this past week’s Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. And it wasn’t just because he barely made the cut and struggled his way to a T-45 finish.
Yes, Rahm failed to post a singe round under par, and at times looked miserable doing it, but there was another reason the Masters was unsettling for the defending champion. In an interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo, the 29-year-old said he wasn’t exactly feeling the love from some of his former PGA Tour acquaintances whom he had not seen since making the move to LIV.
“Yes, I have noticed hostile attitudes,” Rahm said. “But I expected it, my friends have continued to be my friends, but some with whom I had a very cordial relationship have not even looked at my face.”
Rahm gave no indication of who he was referring to. Though one man we can definitely rule out is Scottie Scheffler, who Rahm was chuckling with during the green jacket ceremony following Scheffler’s victory. No ill will there, it would appear.
Rahm says he was much more surprised by who it was that iced him as opposed to the icing in general.
“If someone changes their opinion [of me] it’s your issue, not mine,” he said. “I knew what was going to happen but I didn’t know who.”
The writer of the El Mundo article, Hugo Costa, alluded to the fact that Rahm did have a “good relationship” with both Max Homa and Patrick Cantlay prior to leaving for LIV and that those two “could have had gestures of contempt” toward the Spaniard at the Masters. Rahm did not call out anyone by name.
Rahm won’t play again for two more weeks, when LIV returns to Australia for LIV Golf Adelaide at The Grange Golf Club. As for when we’ll see him again against the PGA Tour’s best players, that won’t be for another month, when the PGA Championship returns to Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., May 16-19.
