{"id":60230,"date":"2026-09-03T00:26:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T00:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/60230\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T00:26:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T00:26:21","slug":"with-runner-up-at-pga-jon-rahm-flashes-a-reminder-that-hes-still-among-the-worlds-best-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/60230\/","title":{"rendered":"With runner-up at PGA, Jon Rahm flashes a reminder that he’s still among the world’s best"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Joh Rahm teased his third major victory \u2014 and first since he left for Saudi-backed LIV<\/a> Golf \u2014 when he opened with back-to-back birdies at Aronimink on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Rahm, who started the final round two strokes off the lead, made only one birdie on the back nine, still good enough to contend in the PGA<\/a> Championship.<\/p>\n

Just not enough to catch Aaron Rai<\/a> of England<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rahm shot a 2-under 68 and finished three shots behind Rai. Although he enters the record book as a runner-up, he ultimately didn’t have a chance over the closing stretch.<\/p>\n

Rahm did provide, at times, a reminder of just how well he can play in a major \u2014 or any tournament, after toiling in relative obscurity for American audiences while playing on LIV.<\/p>\n

Rahm knows he hasn’t been part of part of the conversation about the best in golf. Despite two wins and four second-place finishes in seven LIV events this year, Scottie Scheffler<\/a> and Rory McIlroy<\/a> rule the sport.<\/p>\n

And for this week, at least, so does Rai. On the closing holes when the contenders needed him to stumble, Rai holed a birdie putt of some 70 feet on the 17th hole to put it away.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Aaron did today, catching him could have been very difficult,” Rahm said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if it could happen, but I would have liked a better chance playing the last two holes. I feel like I was still close … until he made that long putt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still in contention on the back nine, the Spaniard reeled off six pars before making birdie at the 16th, getting to 6 under, but by that point Rai was three strokes ahead.<\/p>\n

Rahm won in Hong Kong in March for his first individual title since 2022. A week after a rough showing at the Masters, he won again in Mexico City.<\/p>\n

Neither victory got as much attention as the uncertain future of LIV Golf, which next year will lose the financial backing of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old Rahm can only wonder which direction his career would have gone had he not bolted from the PGA Tour at the end of 2023 for a lucrative contract with LIV.<\/p>\n

Asked about that decision this week, Rahm said he preferred not to look back.<\/p>\n

He did finish with the best score of the LIV players at Aronimink. Cameron Smith<\/a>, David Puig<\/a> and Joaquin Niemann<\/a> all finished inside the top 25, while Bryson DeChambeau<\/a> missed the cut.<\/p>\n

Rahm entered the week at No. 20 in the world, a number that could be higher had LIV Golf received ranking points before this year.<\/p>\n

He’s keenly aware of being overlooked. Rahm referred to himself as being under the radar at the Masters and then lived up to that by nearly missing the cut.<\/p>\n

Rahm righted himself at Aronimink thanks to some changes he made ahead of the tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just small, little details that, unless you\u2019re within, you\u2019re not really going to understand. It\u2019s hard to explain,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Playing on LIV means Rahm gets tested by a full field of golf’s best only at the four majors, and it hasn’t gone very well from him since he left the tougher competition on the PGA Tour.<\/p>\n

In the eight majors before this week, Rahm finished outside the top 30 in four, including a missed cut.<\/p>\n

He’s had three top 10s but only one serious chance of winning. That was last year in the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, when he briefly challenged Scheffler.<\/p>\n

He also tied for seventh in the U.S. Open at Oakmont, though he started the final round 11 shots behind. <\/p>\n

Rahm has two more LIV tournaments \u2014 in Korea and Spain<\/a> \u2014 before he arrives at Shinnecock Hills seeking his second U.S. Open title.<\/p>\n

Rahm knows only winning \u2014 or at least flashing a reminder of his greatness on a major stage \u2014 will put him back in the mix among the world’s best.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019m playing really good golf and definitely played good enough this week to give myself a chance to win,\u201d Rahm said. \u201cSo, keep doing what I\u2019ve been doing well.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP golf: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/golf<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Joh Rahm teased his third major victory \u2014 and first since he left…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[415,87,825,2186,2119,528,4541,5225,144,399,208],"class_list":["post-60230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jon-rahm","tag-aaron-rai","tag-bryson-dechambeau","tag-cameron-smith","tag-david-puig","tag-joaquin-niemann","tag-jon-rahm","tag-pga-pga-championship-05-14-2026","tag-pga-u-s-open-06-18-2026","tag-pga-tour","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-scottie-scheffler"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}