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Then he did what any sensible retiree would do: focus on playing more golf.

Bale’s love affair with golf is well documented. Not only did he find an ingenious workaround during a ban from playing golf during the 2022 World Cup but he also built a three-hole course in his backyard, an homage to some of the most famous holes in golf, including No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass.

Maybe more impressively, Bale told The Erik Anders Lang Show podcast, his handicap is “between a 3 and a 4” — so, no, he’s not your average weekend hacker.

Gareth Bale’s golf game impresses Jon Rahm

How good is Bale on the links? He has the No. 3-ranked player in the world jealous of his game.

After playing a pro-am round with Bale leading up to this week’s Farmers Insurance Open, Jon Rahm said Bale is talented enough not to require tips from the 2021 U.S. Open champ.

“I told Gareth, you can’t be so good at professional football and golf at the same time, it just doesn’t seem fair,” Rahm said. “Can’t be dedicated to one thing and have this much talent for golf, it’s not fair in the slightest.

“He didn’t ask for anything, nor should he be asking, he’s already good enough. Like I said, he has no business being that good when he’s a professional football player. The second he’s done and he can actually practice more, he’s going to get a lot better. He got two strokes, which I think it’s already wrong. He should be giving strokes back to the rest of the amateurs because he is a very, very good player.”

Now look, when a bunch of PGA players and celebrities get together to play in a pro-am, there’s usually a bunch of compliments that get tossed around. It’s a lighthearted atmosphere and allows pros the opportunity to see other celebs hold their own on the course. But in this case, Rahm legitimately seems impressed with Bale’s game.

Who knows, maybe the former footballer will find himself hunting for his PGA Tour card in the not-so-distant future? If Bale can handle the crazed atmosphere of playing in a World Cup, he seems suited to do the same when put in the pressure cooker of a PGA Tour event.

Bale’s next chance to wow Tour pros will come next week when he joins the field at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

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The post Tour Confidential: LIV Golf’s TV deal, LPGA drama, Jon Rahm domination appeared first on Golf.

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1. LIV Golf announced it had officially signed a “multi-year agreement” with the CW, granting broadcast and streaming rights to the network for its events beginning this season. The opening round will be available only on the app, with weekend coverage broadcast on TV. A source also told GOLF.com’s James Colgan that LIV is not paying the CW to broadcast its events. Finding a broadcast partner was paramount for LIV. Now that it’s done, what do you think of this deal?

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Josh Sens, senior writer (@joshsens): This can’t be the deal LIV was dreaming of from the start. Far from it. But elements of it do square with LIV’s current sales pitch. The league is pushing the team and franchise angle hard, with messaging that tilts toward a younger demographic. Throw in the team names (Crushers, Fireballs, Hy Flyers, etc.), and it all has a kind of a Ninja Turtles teen sheen to it that fits CW’s traditionally teeny bopper audience. One disconnect is that aside from Smith and Niemann, LIV’s biggest names skew older. And the overall golf market is of course much older, too. But it does seem like LIV is making a long play for a younger crowd, looking to build those team allegiances that it can sell down the road. How will it all play out? Anyone claiming to know the answer is full of it, I’d say. Lots of Brooks Koepka/Buffy the Vampire jokes floating around. But the other factor is that CW has new owners with a different vision of what they want the network to be. To accurately forecast, you’d have to know how successful they’re going to be in attracting a new audience, and then how/where LIV would fit in with that. The one thing I can predict for sure is that my own personal happiness will not hinge on how the Hy Flyers perform. But then, I thought Holey Moley was unwatchable, and I never understood why people bought pet rocks, so don’t go by me.

Jessica Marksbury, multimedia editor (@jess_marksbury): Whether LIV paid for the TV time or not, it definitely seems like a step in the right direction. Maybe I’m becoming a bit of a dinosaur, but watching things on TV still seems like an upgrade from streaming-only, even if the audience is smaller than YouTube’s. At the end of the day, though, in terms of being a legitimate competitor to the PGA Tour, I feel like the TV home matters much less than the world-ranking points issue. 

Dylan Dethier, senior writer (@dylan_dethier): Like everything in our strange, divisive world, the CW deal has enough positives in it to give the pro-LIV faction something to celebrate — and the anti-LIV crowd plenty to make fun of. To Sens’ point, I think it’s hard to know how this will look until we know the future of the CW and the level of commitment to reinvention from parent company Nexstar. Overall, it feels like a win for LIV to be in so many households — especially given so many other broadcast opportunities were never going to happen. But the whole thing is still a bit surreal. A PGA Tour rival on the CW! Get your One Tree Hill jokes off while we figure out what’s going on.

2. How much will TV ratings tell us in Year 1? How much stock should we put in them?

Sens: I predict poor ratings this year, but that’s obviously not a deal-breaker to a circuit with bottomless funding. What I’d watch more closely is whether LIV can continue to attract big names, which in turn would drive interest. Which in turn gives them a chance at drawing TV sponsors. And so on. Meantime, provided the Saudis stay interested, there will be a year 2, and a year 3 and …

Marksbury: I’ll be surprised if ratings aren’t higher than what we saw from YouTube’s numbers. But I don’t think it will matter all that much either way. As Josh said, LIV seems determined to plug along for the foreseeable future.

Dethier: If we’re able to get exact ratings, I’d expect LIV to do fine. I’d be shocked if it was an overnight sensation — but there’s a large contingent of people who get the CW and there’s also a large contingent of people who like watching golf on weekend afternoons. I’m guessing they’ll find a few coins between the couch cushions to spend on marketing, too. What’s interesting to me is that by going from YouTube to broadcast TV, LIV seems to be playing on the PGA Tour’s turf. It is, as Jay Monahan said a couple weeks ago, “product vs. product.” 

3. Brooke Henderson won the LPGA’s season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions on Sunday, but the event’s locker room situation — or lack thereof — made headlines earlier in the week. Some players, however, were miffed the controversy took away from the first event of the year. Where do you stand with all of this? Was it a big deal? Blown out of proportion? Something in-between? 

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Sens: Subpar locker room storage is what is known as a very privileged problem. So in that sense, overblown. But not overblown in the sense that this would never happen to the men, and if it did, can you imagine the whining?

Marksbury: Something in between. The belated locker delivery seemed a bit clunky. It wasn’t the lack of the physical lockers themselves that was the main problem, but rather the lack of onsite private space for the female competitors. But the event is a unique one on the LPGA schedule — a pro-am with both male and female competitors, and the venue simply didn’t have the accommodations that the players are accustomed to week-in and week-out. So I find myself agreeing more with the players who shrugged it off as a blip on an otherwise cool tournament week.   

Dethier: I think the locker talk was merited, but I think everyone involved would have preferred it stayed in-house — and that that energy were redirected to the competition, which featured a head-to-head showdown between a couple of the game’s most compelling players (Brooke Henderson and Nelly Korda) plus an appearance from rising star Maja Stark. Hopefully this gets the LPGA to double down its focus on its players and we chase compelling golf-related storylines.

4. On the PGA Tour, Jon Rahm continued his sensational run, holding off Davis Thompson to win the American Express tournament by a shot. With Rahm owning two wins already in 2023, we’ll set his win-total number at 4.5, and ask you if he goes over it, or under.  

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Sens: We’re seeing the Rahm we saw in 2021, in the runup to his U.S. Open win, when the only thing that slowed him was a bout of Covid at Muirfield Village. He will win five or six this year. You can currently get him at 11-1 at Augusta. The betting favorite. Which seems about right.

Marksbury: When Rahm finished the first round trailing by two in La Quinta, he said that he was filled with confidence because he was scoring well even when he didn’t have his A-game. Reminded me of Tiger. When a player of Rahm’s talent gets in that zone, the sky is the limit. Given the start he’s had this year, I think five is his number, so I’m definitely betting the over.

Dethier: We’ve seen a bunch of players hit hot streaks in recent years. But finding a second peak is rarified air, and now Rahm feels like he’s doing exactly that. I still think four wins is probably more likely than five — in golf, “under” is always the smart money — but I sure wouldn’t be shocked if he finished the year with seven wins, either. He’s currently one of the three best golfers in the world — and he’s not third.

5. Max Homa graced the cover of the latest issue of GOLF Magazine, and in Dylan Dethier’s profile (which you can read here) we learned about Homa’s battle with self-belief, his rise to the top, Presidents Cup stardom and more. Homa also said, “For a while, with the social media stuff, people were all like, ‘Man, I’d love to have a beer with that guy.’ Well, I don’t know if you really would.” Which brings us to this uber-important question: Which pro (or two) would you most want to have a beer with?

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Sens: One of the older guys with stories to tell and no hesitation telling them. I always found Craig Stadler to be a fun interview. Calcavecchia if you could get him going? Or maybe one of the Europeans. Sam Torrance. Monty. The younger guys would be less interesting, I think, unless you could slip truth serum into their beer.

Marksbury: Totally agree, Josh! You want someone with a minimal filter for sure, and a down-to-earth mentality. I’ll choose from the PGA Tour for variety’s sake: Harry Higgs, Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry. All three seem like straight shooters and a lot of fun.

Dethier: You couldn’t go wrong picking Joel Dahmen, as long as you’re willing to have one beer turn into seven. A pint at Lowry’s local pub would also be a thrill. And it would be an honor to be there for 20-year-old Tom Kim’s first-ever beer. 

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The post Jon Rahm clips Seve Ballesteros’ 25-year-old mark, dominates in Spain appeared first on Golf.

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Jon Rahm bludgeoned his way to his first victory in five months at the Open de Espana on Sunday, capping off a dominant week with a final-round 62 en route to a six-stroke win at the event. It was a fitting win in a home game for Rahm, whose family came in from nearby Biscay to cheer on his final round.

“My lowest round, my lowest score out here, it was pretty much a perfect week and the only thing that would make it better was if my wife and kids were here,” he said. “It was the first one, the newest one with Eneko so I’m glad that’s it’s certainly after each kid that I’ve won a tournament, but I have a lot of family here I don’t see throughout the year.”

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But it is also a historic victory for Rahm, who has now won three of the last five years at the event, a stretch of dominance that brings him into the conversation with his countryman and childhood hero, Seve Ballesteros. With his victory on Sunday, Rahm matched the mark set some 25 years ago by Ballesteros, two shy of the all-time record for Spanish Open wins, which belongs to Angel de la Torre.

The Spanish Open was Ballesteros’ final professional victory in 1995, the exclamation point on a 90-win professional career. Rahm’s victory on Sunday was his 15th pro win with weeks still to go before his 28th birthday.

“It was the goal coming in,” Rahm admitted. “Seve is a great hero of mine and to do something he took his whole career to do in just a few years is quite humbling.”

Rahm finished the tournament at a whopping 25 under, six strokes ahead of Mathieu Pavon. His eight-birdie, one-eagle, one-bogey Sunday was capped with back-to-back birdies to close out the tournament, including a hands-raised fist-pump on the 18th green.

“It’s emotional,” Rahm said. “Going up the 18th hole I knew what was about to happen and to get it done like that, I can’t describe it.”

In many ways, Ballesteros deserves credit for Rahm’s introduction to the game of golf, which came shortly after Ballesteros captained the Europeans to a triumphant victory on home soil at Valderrama. Now, the two men are linked forever by more than just that — sharing the same number of wins in their country’s home open.

“I’ve spoken many times about how that 1997 Ryder Cup and Seve making the win that week, some friends of my dad’s started me playing golf,” Rahm said. “Otherwise, who knows what else I’d be? I’m here because of that alone, and everything else is down to the path that he’s paved for so many of us.”

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The post ‘You and your source are wrong’: Jon Rahm shuts down LIV Golf rumor appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘You and your source are wrong’: Jon Rahm shuts down LIV Golf rumor appeared first on Golf.

The flood of players who have decamped to LIV Golf from the PGA Tour reached its peak this summer, when a final wave of LIV signings was announced after the conclusion of the Tour Championship.

Since then, all has been relatively quiet on the LIV Golf contract front — but that hasn’t stopped rumors of future signings from spreading on social media.

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A popular target has been 2021 U.S. Open champ Jon Rahm, who, as the current World No. 6, would be a big get for LIV Golf. But Rahm was irked by the presence of LIV golfers in the field at last week’s DP World Tour Championship. He also offered an impassioned defense of the PGA Tour and the importance of legacy and history at the U.S. Open in June, saying, “My heart is with the PGA Tour.”

Still, the rumors have persisted. On Tuesday, a user with the Twitter handle @LIVTracking claimed Rahm’s move to LIV was imminent.

“My #LIVGolf source just confirmed with me John Rahm (sic) to LIV INV is indeed a GO,” the user wrote. “I’ve never been wrong about a LIV signing. Just look at my track record. PGA Tour is on the ropes.”

Twitter is full of baseless tweets, but this one has garnered attention because Rahm fired back. Despite the fact that his first name was misspelled and he was untagged in the original post, Rahm responded directly to the post on Wednesday.

“I must inform you that you have started a losing streak because you and your source are wrong,” Rahm wrote. “I want to thank you for the lift in the PIP.”

Though social media will no longer be a factor in the new PIP formula this year, Rahm’s quip is still a humorous nod to the extra attention the social-media rumor mill has bestowed upon the Tour’s brightest stars.

And despite Rahm’s seemingly constant assertions that he’s not going anywhere, it doesn’t appear that the speculation will end anytime soon.

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The post ‘Not fooling anybody’: Why Jon Rahm is irked some LIV players are in the BMW PGA Championship field appeared first on Golf.

That topic — the 18 LIV Golf players in the field at this week’s BMW PGA Championship — has been a controversial one the past few days. The BMW PGA is the DP World Tour’s flagship event but, unlike the PGA Tour, LIV golfers are still on the DP World Tour. (The DP World Tour suspended them, but a U.K. arbiter granted a stay of execution.)

That means this week’s field has some players entered who have not normally teed it up at the Wentworth Club in England. For some LIV players, it’s an important start — World Ranking points are up for grabs (they aren’t available in LIV events yet), and those points go a long way in securing invites to majors.

The main issue here is that those players, even if they have qualified through priority rankings, are kicking other DP World Tour members out. Some even received LIV contracts, so other pros see it as a double-dip.

“In my understanding, there is a double standard when it comes to the relationship LIV has with the [DP World Tour] and the PGA Tour,” said Rahm, when speaking to Sky Sports on Tuesday. “The PGA Tour can survive without some of the biggest stars because there’s so many new ones coming in. The [DP World Tour], some of those bigger names you still may need.

“I don’t necessarily disagree too much with that,” Rahm continued. “What I do disagree with is some of the names that have never expressed any support toward the [DP World Tour], any interest, or the event, whatsoever, and to be giving those players an opportunity and take it from players who have dedicated themselves to the [DP World Tour], I think it’s wrong.”

The issue is personal for Rahm. The first player out, he said, was Alfredo Garcia-Heredia, a fellow Spaniard and close friend of his. He’s played 20 events on the DP World Tour this year but didn’t get in the field.

The interviewer brought up the names Talor Gooch and Abraham Ancer as LIV players who have been criticized for entering the tournament and pushing others out. Gooch has never played in a DP World Tour event; Ancer has played in a few but never a BMW PGA.

“I’m not going to name anybody, but the only reason they are here is for World Ranking points, hoping they can finish in the top 50 to then play certain majors,” Rahm said. “It’s clear as day. And if they are saying otherwise they are not fooling anybody, at least not me.”

Rahm said he has no issues with LIV players like Sergio Garcia, Graeme McDowell, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter playing Wentworth, because those pros spent years on the DP World Tour and earned their spot. He even included Patrick Reed, who has long played European events, saying Reed’s shown interest over the years and “earned” his right to be there.

“But some players, even though they qualified, however they qualified, they are taking a spot from some players that deserve it way more than they do,” Rahm said.

Billy Horschel was even more blunt.

“I believe that they shouldn’t be here,” Horschel said. “I believe it’s a slap in the face to the regular members, to the guys who are actually supporting this tour going forward.”

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The post Could LIV golfers qualify for Team Europe in the Ryder Cup? We found out more today appeared first on Golf.

The post Could LIV golfers qualify for Team Europe in the Ryder Cup? We found out more today appeared first on Golf.

For the 2023 Cup, captain Luke Donald will make SIX captain’s picks, double what previous captain Padraig Harrington was allotted in 2021. The European team will feature six automatic qualifiers in addition to those six picks via its long-used European Points and World Points lists.

The move to six captain’s picks was first made by Steve Stricker during the 2021 Cup for the USA, which was widely praised as it helped result in a record-setting 19-9 victory for the Americans at Whistling Straits. The U.S. will maintain the same system with the upcoming 2022 Presidents Cup, captained by Davis Love III.

“These changes to the qualification process for Team Europe follow in-depth analysis with the team at Ryder Cup Europe and with Thomas [Bjorn] and Edoardo [Molinari],” Donald said in a press release. “I’m delighted that when we presented our thoughts to the Tournament Committee, they were 100 percent behind them.”

The decision comes amid great consternation over who will be involved with Europe, considering the recent launch of LIV Golf. It was just last month that Henrik Stenson was the European captain but lost his position with the team when he signed with the upstart league. Donald assumed the post just 12 days later, saying, “Some of my best experiences in golf have been in the Ryder Cup and I would not swap those for anything.”

A major question follows if LIV golfers will be able to qualify for the team. It can be reasonably expected that, at this moment, LIV golfers will not earn a captain’s pick from Donald. But can they still qualify on points? There is no announced stipulation barring them from that path onto the team.

At next week’s BMW Championship, where Ryder Cup qualifying begins, there will be 18 LIV golfers in the field. If, say, Sergio Garcia wins that event, it will go a long way to his qualifying for the 2023 Ryder Cup. The same goes for major championships in 2023, which will award the most points (6,000), followed by the Rolex Series events, which are played on the DP World Tour. But European Points will only be awarded to active DP World Tour members who maintain their membership, and World Points (distributed via the World Golf Ranking) will not be awarded to events held during the same week as a Rolex Series event. (In other words, LIV Golf’s schedule of events would want to be wary of the DP World Tour’s biggest events as well.)

But yes, on paper, a high-performing LIV golfer who is also a DP World Tour member, hails from Europe and plays well in Rolex Series events and major championships will seemingly have a chance to qualify for the Ryder Cup team. There is zero specific wording in Team Europe’s press release that bans LIV golfers from qualifying. That said, the competition for those spots has always been fierce, and now there are just fewer spots to go around.

The top three players on the European Points list in 2021 were Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrrell Hatton, who each played very well on the DP World Tour that summer. The top three others on the World Points list were Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland and Paul Casey. Since that World Points list is compiled via world ranking points, mostly dominated by PGA Tour events, which LIV golfers are suspended from playing, it is highly unlikely a LIV golfer would qualify via the World Points list.

More plainly, for a LIV golfer to qualify automatically, they’d need to be one of the three best European players in DP World Tour events and major championships. But many of them are running out of time. Their world world golf rankings continue to decay over time by not competing on a tour that awards them. The Masters tournament awards lifetime exemptions for its past champions, many of which are LIV golfers. But the PGA Championship, U.S. Open and British Open entry qualifications are not as favorable.

To continue the aforementioned example, could Sergio Garcia outperform Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Matt Fitzpatrick and many other of the best European pros in the world in specific events that reward qualification points, littered across a schedule that also includes double-digit LIV golf events? Of course it’s possible, but rather unlikely. 

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But that sounds like news to one of the Tour’s top players. 

“I wouldn’t be surprised if that changes, because that puts me in a difficult position,” Jon Rahm said Friday. 

As part of its fight against the controversial, Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series, Tour commissioner Jay Monahan outlined Wednesday multiple changes to the league’s schedule and money, chief among them being that the Tour’s top 20 players had committed to play “at least” 20 events. But Rahm, the world’s sixth-ranked player, may have an issue, especially next year. 

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It centers on next year’s Ryder Cup. To qualify as a member of the European team, a golfer must play four DP World Tour events. And that, on top of the 20 Tour tournaments, would be a lot, Rahm said. 

Speaking after his Tour Championship second round, here was his complete exchange:

Reporter: “The 20 elite events next year, the elevated events, the new schedule …”

Rahm: “Majors and Players and playoffs don’t really count, do they?”  

Reporter: “Is that asking more of the European guys considering you have to play four for the Ryder Cup?”

Rahm: “Well, we have to play all of them?”

Reporter: “Play all of the 20.”

Rahm: “If we have to play all those 20, then yeah, a 100 percent. I wouldn’t be surprised if that changes, because that puts me in a difficult position having to play — if I don’t play — if I go play in Europe in the fall like I’m going to — I have to play from January until August 20 times. I think this is my 17th from January, and I don’t think I could add any more. So yeah, especially with Ryder Cup and having to play four in Europe, yeah, I think it’s a bit of an ask, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they revise a bit of a rule or make an exception for some players.

“But if they do it for players like me and Rory [McIlroy], they might have to do it for everybody.”

Reporter: “Do you know something we don’t?”

Rahm: “In what sense?”

Reporter: “In terms of changing that policy?”

Rahm: “Me? No. You’re asking the wrong guy. If you want to know about that stuff, you know who of the two players you have to ask.” 

It was here where Rahm smiled. His reference to the two players was likely toward McIlroy and Tiger Woods, who last week organized a players-only meeting that likely talked about many of the changes announced Wednesday. McIlroy, in fact, mentioned the benefit of having top players play more often — a concept LIV Golf has, as it requires its golfers to play in all of its events (eight this year and 14 next year). 

“Yeah, so I think I saw a stat yesterday that apart from the major championships and maybe the Players, the top 10 players, top 20 players in the world get together to play against each other one other time during the year, and that just doesn’t — I think if you’re trying to sell a product to TV and to sponsors and to try to get as many eyeballs on professional golf as possible, you need to at least let people know what they’re tuning in for,” McIlroy said Wednesday in his pre-Tour Championship press conference. 

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“When I tune into a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game, I expect to see Tom Brady throw a football. When I tune into a Formula 1 race, I expect to see Lewis Hamilton in a car. Sometimes what’s happened on the PGA Tour is we all act independently and we sort of have our own schedules, and that means that we never really get together all that often. I think what came out of the meeting last week and what Jay just was up here announcing is the fact that we’ve all made a commitment to get together more often to make the product more compelling.”

So will Rahm’s concern be addressed? Stay tuned. But one LIV golfer did note the issue on Saturday.

In response to a tweet that showed the video of Rahm’s press conference, Lee Westwood tweeted: “I’m sure this will be covered in the ‘strategic alliance ‘ Jon,” a reference to the relationship between the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. 

The exchange continued. The Twitter user who shared the video, @flushingitgolf, wrote in response: “It’s so strategic and so well balanced that the European Tour CEO has no influence in what the PGA Tour does, but the PGA Tour commissioner has a seat on the European Tour’s board… I’m sure all decisions are made in unison” — to which Westwood replied: “It’s worrying that 1 of Europes best players looks concerned as to how he’s going to fit in his quota of tournaments to enable him to be a member of both DPWT & PGA tour. I’m sure this subject was covered at the meeting in Delaware last week.”

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The post Justin Thomas and Jon Rahm were given a note from a girl. It may melt you.  appeared first on Golf.

The post Justin Thomas and Jon Rahm were given a note from a girl. It may melt you.  appeared first on Golf.

Each had a message on the back. 

The pros entertain and inspire, and it’s one of the reasons why you tune in. Though we’ll argue the entertainment and inspiration can be even greater when the reverse happens. The best in the world are touched? You can be too! Win, win. Not only are players’ defenses dropped, but the reasons why typically have all the feels. But you know this. Back to the pictures and the messages.

Thomas and Rahm each shared their notes on Instagram after their Saturday play at the BMW Championship. A young girl had given each player one at Wilmington Country Club, though slightly different. On the back of Thomas’ were these words:

“To whoever I give this to: I wish you good luck in your golf adventures! You were chosen by the universe to play golf. The reason why you are here is to change people’s lives through golf! You inspire thousands or even millions of people around the world! If you ever feel sad or want to give up, things will get better! Don’t get distracted by fans yelling things like mashed potatoes or get in the hole. Focus on yourself and you’ll be just fine!”

And these were the words on the back of Rahm’s note: 

“To whoever I give this to: I wish you good luck in your golf adventures! You were chosen by the universe to play golf. The reason why you are here is to change people’s lives through golf! You inspire thousands or even millions of people around the world! If you feel sad or want to give up, remember that things will get better. Life is like a hard golf course with lots of obstacles. But even if the course is hard, that won’t stop you from winning!”

Both Thomas and Rahm had their own words in response. To note, Rahm is pretty inactive on social media.

“Thank you Bay for the kind message after my round! You are an inspiration to all!” Rahm wrote.

“Got this from a young girl while signing autographs after the round… she told me to look at it when I’m down or not having a good day,” Thomas wrote.

“So amazing and at the perfect time. I’m as competitive as they come, but this was a great ‘bigger picture’ moment. Positivity should be spread like this more often in the world. Thank you, Bay!”

Consider it shared.

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The post Hideki Matsuyama caught in sticky rules situation — and Jon Rahm defends him appeared first on Golf.

The post Hideki Matsuyama caught in sticky rules situation — and Jon Rahm defends him appeared first on Golf.

He then helped relieve Hideki Matsuyama. 

In a sequence on Friday that featured the rules, a call to a rules official, and a playing partner plea, Matsuyama escaped a penalty during the BMW Championship second round. And Rahm played a part.  

To begin, Matsuyama’s tee shot on the par-3 had dropped just above the top of a greenside bunker, then it dropped in after Matsuyama, from the sand, took a few short swipes with his wedge about a foot from the ball. He looked down, looked up at his caddie, Shota Hayafuji, looked down, looked up at Hayafuji, looked around and looked down. Questions were raised. 

Did Matsyama’s cuts cause the movement? That would have forced him to take a one-stroke penalty under rule 9.4b. But did the ball move on its own? If this were the case, rule 9.3 comes into play — and he would be allowed to play the ball from the new spot, and notably, do so penalty free. It’s all hard to gauge — it’s not as if you can ask the ball what happened — so players’ words are strongly considered. Hayafjuki signaled Rahm and called for a referee. 

Rahm hit his chip before the official came over. PGA Tour Live mics then picked up this conversation. 

“The ball was here?” the official asked, pointing to an area. 

Matsuyama said yes. 

“And you took some practice swings over here?” the official asked. 

Matsuyama demonstrated his moves. By this point, Rahm was close by. 

“And it was just hanging basically just right on top up here?” the official asked.  

Matsuyama and Hayafuji showed the official where the ball was.  

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“It was not deep,” Rahm said.  

“It was really perched up?” the official asked. 

“That thing could have fallen at any time,” Rahm said. “He did not make it move. It was literally like the last little grass was keeping it up.” 

He was right, at least in the eyes of the official. After a little more back and forth, the official determined that the ball fell on its own. The crowd even cheered. 

From there, Matsuyama got up and down for his par, shot a four-under 67, and he’ll begin Saturday’s third round three shots behind leader Adam Scott. Rahm, meanwhile, shot a 70, and he’s nine back of the lead. 

“You got to be happy you don’t get a penalty for that,” analyst Andres Gonzales said on the PGA Tour Live broadcast. “The way things are interpreted. You can see from our camera angle that he did nothing to cause that to move, but there’s always that little bit of uncertainty that you don’t know about when you start getting other minds in. 

“That was good of Jon Rahm to back him there.” 

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The post Hideki Matsuyama caught in sticky rules situation — and Jon Rahm defends him appeared first on Golf.