AUGUSTA, Ga. — Jon Rahm grew up idolizing Tiger Woods. He watched him win majors and dreamed of one day being him. When he beat Tiger Woods in singles during the 2018 Ryder Cup, Rahm said it was one of the best moments of his life. Rahm even read Tiger’s book about his first Masters, and said he thought of Tiger’s story after winning his first major.
It makes sense then that Rahm would seek out Tiger for advice. Extracting that advice from the game’s ultimate competitor, however, has proven hard work — if not entirely impossible.
“You might need to ask Justin Thomas,” Rahm said from the Masters on Tuesday. “There’s only one man in this field that hears advice from Tiger, because I’ve asked before and I get nothing.”
Rahm said he learned this lesson the hard way — twice. The first came during a practice round at the 2017 Tour Championship, when he asked Tiger for some tips about putting on Bermuda grass greens.
“He turned around and said, ‘It’s all about feel,’ and just kept going,” Rahm recalled.
“I was like, ‘Cool, thank you,'” he said, sarcastically.
The next lesson came a few years later, during Rahm’s first Hero World Challenge, in the Bahamas.
“You just got to be shallow,” Rahm said of the sole piece of advice Woods gave him. “Meanwhile, I turn around and J.T.’s there with him, and he’s getting a whole dissertation on what to do.”
The JT-Tiger bond runs deep. Tiger describes him as something akin to a family member — like a big brother to Charlie and a little one to him — which has helped pave Thomas’s way into Tiger’s circle of trust. That circle remains tight, and JT, for his part, seems to be following in Woods’ footsteps.
“I’m not going to tell you the advice that’s been most valuable to me,” Thomas said Tuesday, “because frankly I don’t want other competitors to know.”