ROCESTER, England — There’s a lot we learned about Jon Rahm Wednesday at LIV’s England event — chiefly that he doesn’t like beer, and would rather have red wine — but one aspect of him was on display that’s not new at all. In fact, we know it quite well.
Rahm is an absolute golf history sicko.
Anyone who has interviewed him, or simply watched one of his press conferences, is made aware early and often. The man has studied some film, Wikipedia pages, Ryder Cup history, Spanish golf records, you name it.
The second place his brain traveled to was south, to Valderramma, where the first and only Spanish Ryder Cup was hosted in 1997, captained by Seve Ballesteros.
“I think there was only, that I can remember, four Spanish people that were involved in that Ryder Cup with Seve,” Rahm began. “Miguel was a vice captain, Ollie playing and then Nacho Garrido playing as well.”
Everyone remembers Nacho Garrido, right? No?
Nacho was the nickname of Ignacio Garrido, from Madrid, who made only a handful of PGA Tour starts in his career, but who bagged a win on the DP World Tour in the summer of 1997 en route to joining that fall’s European team. He halved three of his matches and lost the fourth, in Sunday Singles, to Tom Lehman, 7 and 6. But Rahm would never forget him.
“So only four [Spaniards can say they have [played a Cup in Spain]. I don’t know how many players can ever say they’ve played a Ryder Cup in their home countries. Not many, besides the U.S. team, obviously. But it would be unbelievable. I’m very happy that it’s happening. I’m hoping that somehow or another I can be a part of it.”
Again, to anyone who has ever interviewed him, this comes as no surprise. Rahm’s press conferences often slide in the direction of a history lesson. Take his PGA Championship press conference, where he went deep on the learnings to be had by watching ‘Chronicles of a Champion Golfer’ on YouTube. Or at Oakmont, when he started rattling off, in reverse chronological order, the names of the U.S. Open champions at Oakmont.
“Dustin, Angel, Ernie, Larry,“ Rahm began.
“Jack” a reporter interjected.
“Johnny, then Jack, right?” Rahm said, correcting the record.
There isn’t a better historian among the active players, and particularly among elite players. Rahm’s brain leans toward remembering numbers, like when he was asked about Sergio Garcia’s record at Valderramma a year ago, and he rattled off “17 starts, 15 top 10s and four wins.” He’s gone back and studied old Masters broadcasts on YouTube, so much that he can rattle off not just how Seve Ballesteros won the 1983 Masters — chipping in for par on 18 — but also who he was vying for the green jacket against: Tom Watson.
He uses tips from Phil Mickelson highlight reels to ask during their next practice round together. He’s fallen for Lee Trevino’s storytelling skills, just like all of us have. He commits tiny Tiger-isms to memory, and then keeps them tucked away until, for example, he finds himself in an Open at St. Andrews.
