Changing face of golf as Rahm tees it up in Dubai

Saturday, 18 January 2025 01:32 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Jon Rahm

It is an indication of how much the golfing landscape is changing that Jon Rahm is starting his competitive year this week at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic.

The former Masters champion is no stranger to success at this time of the year. The PGA Tour’s west coast swing was fertile territory, with nearly half of his 11 victories on the US circuit coming in either January or February.

So the DP World Tour’s traditional start in the Middle East never entered Rahm’s radar until his lucrative move to the breakaway LIV tour at the end of 2023.

It was a switch that put him at odds with the establishment, but with an appeal pending against sanctions for playing LIV events without permission, the 30-year-old remains free to play European tour tournaments.

This means he will tee it up with Ryder Cup team-mates Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood and Viktor Hovland here in Dubai. “When I was playing a full PGA Tour schedule a lot of my focus was on the west coast,” Rahm told BBC Sport.

“Four years of university there, success in those events in Hawaii, Palm Springs, Torrey Pines, Pebble Beach and Phoenix, it was very difficult to justify not playing those, with how well I played every year.”

But Rahm says his move to LIV has “opened up my January” and he is clearly keen to assert contentment with his move to the Saudi Arabia backed tour.

The Spaniard was regarded as a moody presence at various events last year when he struggled in the early majors and had to wait until July before posting his first win in one of LIV’s 54-man tournaments.

He went on to become LIV’s 2024 individual champion. But there was speculation that he had a form of “buyer’s remorse” after signing for a reported $ 450 million.