Jon Rahm may be calling the culinary shots at next month’s Masters but the defending champion is all too aware he will not be universally well received by the entire field.
Rahm is LIV Golf’s biggest coup yet, the latest Green Jacket wearer lured by the format’s riches in the wake of Europe’s Ryder Cup triumph.
On Tuesday, he unveiled his champions’ dinner menu, one rich in tapas including his grandmother’s classic lentil stew, all a far cry from the cheeseburgers of previous winner Scottie Scheffler.
Scheffler will go to Augusta as the overwhelming favourite having won both the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship, two of the biggest prizes outside the Majors, in the space of just a week.
But Rahm will be a star attraction as much down to his LIV defection as being the defending champion.
For his part, he just wants to play golf. He said: “I just want to see again the best in the world being able to compete against the best in the world. I’m definitely looking forward… to teeing it up in the Masters.
“I’m assuming there will be quite a few that are not happy but, from my side, nothing changes. I still respect everybody on both sides and respect the game of golf above all.”
As things stand, Rahm is still liable to fines and suspensions from the DP World Tour for his exit to LIV, meaning his dream of playing in the Ryder Cup is currently not possible.
Talks are still ongoing about trying to broker a piece between both the DP World Tour and LIV as well as the PGA Tour.
Of those talks, Rahm said: “I think there’s a way of coexisting and, if there’s some type of union, I don’t know what that looks like. If there is some type of peace achieved, I think it can actually push the game forward.”
Rahm was honest enough to admit that for all the money in the bank, not everything is rosy, struggling to have watched the Players unfold on TV without him in the playing ranks.
“For everybody who said this would be easy, some things have been,” he said, “but not being able to defend some titles that mean a lot to me hasn’t.
“I still watched the broadcast [of the Players]. I still watch golf because I love watching it but it’s hard. I do hope I get to tee up at the Players again.”
