What Should We Make of Jon Rahm’s 2024?

Jon Rahm won LIV UK on Sunday, his first professional golf win since the 2023 Masters. It’s been an odd year for the Spaniard, who hasn’t finished outside the top 10 in any LIV event he’s completed, while also being relatively invisible during golf’s most visible tournaments. His T-7 at the Open Championship was the lone bright spot in a disappointing major season, a surprising career development for one of golf’s most consistent stars.

Nearly one full season into signing with LIV, where is Jon Rahm’s head? Is he disappointed that he just spent a prime year of his career playing outside the consciousness of most golf fans? Or has 2024 been more successful than it appears on the surface?

An emotional @JonRahmOfficial claims his first title since his 2023 Masters win 🏆#LIVGolf pic.twitter.com/KStr8p25N0

— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) July 28, 2024

To start developing an answer to that question, we can turn to Rahm’s comments from his post-tournament presser. When asked to reflect on his decision to join LIV, Rahm said, “…I have to say I’m extremely satisfied with how things have gone…I really don’t think there’s going to be much to be negative about. It’s been, in my experience, a fantastic experience. It’s been a wonderful year.”

Glowing reviews! I highly doubt that Jon Rahm would answer any differently regardless of how he feels about his transition, but at least for now he’s projecting satisfaction. Except for Saturday, which featured a testy exchange between Rahm, his caddie, and some rowdy fans.

🚨💀⛳️ #MELTDOWN — Jon Rahm gets agitated and stares down a rowdy fan in the gallery on 16 at LIV Golf UK. pic.twitter.com/A4lqAOfQJW

— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) July 27, 2024

Golf but louder, baby.

It’s easy to take either side when evaluating Rahm’s 2024 to this point. In a golf landscape increasingly focused on majors, Rahm failed to make the case that he’s one of the best players in the world. For a player of his caliber, anything short of that should be beneath expectations. However, a nagging foot injury did prevent Rahm from teeing it up at Pinehurst. Between that and the T-7 at Troon, any description of 2024 as a poor year for Rahm would have to be based on just two tournaments, the Masters and the PGA. Unfortunately those just so happen to be two of the biggest weeks of the year, and two of the only times we get to watch Jon Rahm battle against large fields full of the best players in the world.

Amidst changing tours and his wife’s challenging pregnancy, which he cited in his presser, Rahm has played reasonably strong golf for all but two weeks of the calendar year. Calling his season anything close to a disaster is a massive overreaction to a very small sample size of underperformance. It hasn’t been a great year, but does anyone doubt that he could be one of the top performers in the 2025 major season? I certainly don’t.

Looking ahead to the Olympics this upcoming week, Rahm has a prime opportunity to assert himself in a highly visible setting, likely his final big stage of the year. With a solid showing this week, Rahm could reclaim some of the public respect currently centered on Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler, in the process reminding everyone that any list of the world’s best should absolutely still have his name on it.

This piece originally appeared in the Fried Egg Golf newsletter. Subscribe for free and receive golf news and insight every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.