(Provided by Tennis World USA)
From the hell of the US Open, although last week in Los Angeles was somewhat softer than usual, to TPC River Highlands, the Disneyland of Connecticut (USA), home of a Travelers Championship that tends to become a festival scorer, a birdie party.
As he did after winning the Masters, Jon Rahm competes in the post-major week from this Thursday, in which it is the last designated tournament, of those that distribute bags of 20 million, on the PGA calendar.
Jon Rahm, results
Rahmbo is at Cromwell for the first time since 2020, in what will presumably be his last outing before the Scottish Open, the great European event prior to the British, which will close the season of the greats next month.
Apart from that year, in which he was 37th, he has already played in 2016 (25th) and 2015 (64th). He admits that he likes the field and the tournament, that he has been chosen as the favorite of the circuit among the players for two years in a row, among other things because of his hospitality policy, which includes charter flights for the players, and his ability to drag.
Only the Phoenix Open brings together more people among the regular events on the circuit. It is played on a beautiful design by Robert J. Ross that Pete Dye got his hands on in 1982 and Bobby Werd in 1989, which rewards distance and presents greens mixed with poa, Jon’s favorite grass, and bentgrass.
A good fit, therefore, for the Biscayan, although he admits that he likes tougher preparations, and that adjective does not exactly fit River Highlands: in the 39 years that the tournament has been there, which was born in 1952 as the Insurance City Open, It has been earned with an average -14, with peaks such as Kenny Perry’s -22 in 2009 or Notah Begay III’s -20 in 2020.
And there Jim Furyk shot the first and so far only 58 in the last lap of 2016 in PGA history. After clinching a top-10 run with a powerful final charge at the US Open, Rahm comes in with a vengeance. “Hopefully I can give the version that I think I can give and be fighting on Sunday,” says Jon, who is not shy when it comes to acknowledging that, if it weren’t for the new status of the event, within the top division of the circuit, surely he would not have played it, and that he really wants a “mental rest” before facing the last stretch of the course.
He offered no new views on the PGA-LIV-DP World Tour alliance at the previous press conference. He did comment that on Wednesday night a meeting was scheduled between the players and the PGA management in which the matter would be discussed again, before going for what would be his fifth win of the season, this week without options to snatch the number one ranking from Scottie Scheffler, with whom he will play Thursday (6:40 p.m., Movistar Golf) and Friday (1:25 p.m.) at the Travelers theme park.
