JOHANNESBURG — Tuesday’s assignment was simple: find out what Jon Rahm really thinks of his all-world form. At the moment, he’s the closest thing in pro golf to Scottie Scheffler, but does he feel that way?
He said he feels closest to his late 2021 form, or 2022-into-2023 form, which led to a Masters win. (Bettors take note.) One way of contextualizing the state of Rahm’s game isn’t by assessing his wins, or his ceiling, but rather his floor, which is — like Scheffler’s — higher than anyone else’s. In the last 12 months, Rahm has finished top 10 in 14 of 15 LIV events (his one outlier was a T11 in Dallas), added three top-15 finishes in the major and gone 2-for-2 in DP World Tour top 15s. He just doesn’t have bad weeks.
So, I asked him, When was the last time you had one? An actual bad week?
“I’ve had bad weeks,” he began, smiling. “I’ve just — I have done really well in somehow managing what I have [those weeks].”
In other words, throttling down on his aggression because he can’t hit certain shots reliably. But if you really made him pick one — actually waited for him to highlight his last BAD week — it was May 2025, in Korea. He opened with a ho-hum 72, closed with a ho-hum 70, surprised himself in the middle with a 66 amid struggles with the putter and finished … tied for seventh.
He didn’t feel great at the Royal Portrush Open Championship two months later, where he tied for 34th. He felt … fine about his top 15s in all the other majors. Proud of the way he fought. But that T7 in Korea? That was a “low, very low” week, and it was 10 months ago.
So, what does that say about your game? I asked, readying for a stock answer about consistency, which he started to live up to:
“I’ve prided myself in consistency and playing til the end, right?” he said. “No matter what. I think I probably can be quoted in a lot of interviews saying if you can finish 32nd instead of 33rd, it is your duty as a competitor — at least that’s how I see it.”
Jon Rahm’s LIV Hong Kong week started with hard questions. It ended in relief and victory
This “duty” is interesting, like an assignment from a commander. Not every pro thinks that way. Some will spend the late holes in an event firing at flags for fun, thinking about their post-golf burrito, or even put some new swing thoughts into action. Rahm’s competitive call to duty is inspired by “Call of Duty.” Yep, the The shoot-’em-up video game.
“So it’s definitely something that’s in my mind,” he continued. “I compared it last year for all the people that know ‘Call of Duty’ — especially competitive ‘Call of Duty’ — to Scrap Time.”
In competitive ‘Call of Duty,’ as Rahm puts it, online players work as teams to hold (and defend) a specific (but rotating) position on the game map for as long as possible while other teams try and remove them from that position. The position in demand moves around throughout a game, but whichever team can find, hold and defend for longer than any other squad wins. Those final five to 10 seconds before the position changes location become some sort of a free-for-all as players sprint away and others try to grab some precious seconds “in position,” which is called Scrap Time.
