RAHM’S GOAL IN AUGUSTA: ANOTHER YEAR WITH THE GREEN JACKET

AUGUSTA, Ga. – During his year with the Masters green jacket, Jon Rahm didn’t really do anything outlandish while wearing it. Sure, he threw out the first pitch prior to Game 4 of last year’s World Series involving his local team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. As with all public appearances in which the green jacket is worn outside Augusta National, Rahm needed permission from club officials.

He was nervous about embarrassing himself – or rather, embarrassing the green jacket – with an errant throw. While he didn’t toss a strike, at least his pitch didn’t hit the dirt. And in his defense, he was wearing a tie, slacks and loafers. There have been much worse efforts.

For the most part, the green jacket hung in his closet back home. Rahm positioned it so he would walk by the jacket every day, a reminder of the greatest win of his still-developing legacy. Occasionally, he would take it off the hanger and put it on. No doubt warm fuzzies ensued.

But now he’s had to return the green jacket to the club, as all Masters champions must do once they arrive for their title defense. The only way he’ll get to keep it for the next year is if he becomes just the fourth player to successfully defend at Augusta National, following in the footsteps of Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods.

And if he doesn’t win this week?

“I’m going to regret not wearing it more often and just taking it everywhere, just because you have it.” Rahm said in his Tuesday press conference. “… It's something really special to know, when you win, that the only jacket that ever leaves Augusta National is that one.”

There will be plenty of green jackets gathered in one room Tuesday night when Rahm hosts the Champions Dinner that includes various dishes honoring his Spanish heritage, particularly the Basque region in which he grew up. On Wednesday, it’s the Par-3 contest; later that night, he’ll receive an award from the GWAA honoring him as the 2023 Male Golfer of the Year.

Then on Thursday, he begins his title defense.

It’s been quite the whirlwind four months since Rahm made the decision to join LIV Golf and become the captain of the league’s expansion team, which he named Legion XIII. Since then, he’s played 15 rounds of golf – all in the first five LIV tournaments of 2024. He’s the only player to finish inside the top 10 in each start, and he ranks second behind two-time winner Joaquin Niemann in the season-long Individual points race.

Although he hasn’t won an individual trophy, he has celebrated two team victories, including Sunday’s one-stroke nail-biter at LIV Golf Miami. It’s a unique way to enter the title defense of a major – and Rahm has enjoyed the ride, calling it confirmation that he made the right move for his career.

“I’ve had a lot of fun playing in those events,” Rahm said. “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.

“It's been fun to be part of a team. It's one of the driving factors for me to make the change. It's fun to be a part of a family and part of a common goal as a team, right? And enjoying those team victories has been really, really fun. Usually on a Sunday, like last week, I would not have been thrilled by the way I finished.”

Rahm tied for fourth on the individual leaderboard in Miami, shooting a final-round 69 at Trump National Doral to move up the leaderboard from his starting position of T11. But by the end of the day, his focus was more on the team’s result, not his own.

That’s why he was upset with his bogey at the par-5 first, which was his next-to-last hole of the day. After hitting his best drive of the day, he hit a half-shank 4-iron into the water.

A few holes earlier, Rahm had put Legion XIII ahead by eight shots with a birdie, but now the lead had tightened considerably. Rahm’s bogey on his next-to-last hole reduced it to one shot.

On his final hole of the day, the par-4 second, he bounced back with a birdie for a two-shot cushion, and followed with a post-putt celebration that might have seemed out of place without the team element in play.

“It’s a team win. It matters,” Rahm said. “And that’s where I think this can be a positive in many ways, right? And as players, it’s very fun to be playing for that as well.”

Rahm does have one of his Legion XIII teammates, Tyrrell Hatton, in the field this week. But they are strictly competitors at the Masters. The success of one may ultimately be at the cost of the other.

There will be no team functions this week. Rahm will have his own support staff, of course, but even that might be reduced if caddie Adam Hayes has a setback in his recovery from a stomach flu that forced him to the sidelines in the final round in Miami. “As of right now,” Rahm said, “I don't have a backup, so I hope he can make it on Thursday.”

Rahm was asked Tuesday if the level of intensity is the same for LIV Golf tournaments (which include both team and individual leaderboards in a smaller field) compared to traditional individual-only tournaments.

“That's an argument that, if you haven't experienced being playing in a tournament, you can't really understand,” he replied. “I understand there's less people. I understand the team format's a little different. I understand we're going shotgun and things are a little bit different to how they are in a PGA Tour event. But the pressure's there. Like, I want to win as bad as I wanted to win before I moved on to LIV.

“So, yeah, going down the stretch when you're in contention is the exact same feelings. That really doesn't change. … Winning is winning, and that's what matters.”

And winning this week means another year with the green jacket. Perhaps that well-positioned hanger in his closet won’t be empty for much longer.