During his celebratory fortnight, new US Open champion Jon Rahm learned a raucous parlour game of sipping alcohol from the trophy and hitting glow balls in the dark.
Now he is back to set the game alight at the start of this wonderful two weeks of links golf.
The big Spaniard admitted the celebrations were a lot more raucous than usual, with a case in point being a video that went viral on social media of what happened when Rahm and his mates were sitting around the clubhouse pool one evening at his home club, Silverleaf in Arizona.
Jon Rahm is ready to get back to the day job after the high of winning the US Open
Rahm is seen drinking from the trophy before grabbing a mid-iron and placing one of the glow balls on a tee on the patio. Naturally, to loud cheers, he strikes it straight and true. This is one man who can drink and drive.
‘It’s what happens when you put a group together at Silverleaf who have known each other for a long time at a club with few rules to follow and an owner celebrating harder than anyone,’ said a sheepish Rahm.
‘I don’t know whose idea it was to bring out the glow-in-the-dark balls but it didn’t take very long to go from that to something very stupid.’
The Spaniard won the trophy for the first time at Torrey Pines last month
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Now it is back to the day job, and hitting golf balls in broad daylight in the company of Rory McIlroy and American Justin Thomas as the obvious star draw in the first round of the Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club.
Thereafter, it is on to the Open at Royal St George’s, where Rahm reached the last 16 of the British Boys Championship when he was 16, on his only appearance in Kent to date.
It is going to be interesting to see how he gets on. You could imagine that it would prove all too overwhelming for many after becoming the first Spaniard to claim the US Open with two stunning birdies on his final two holes to win by one at Torrey Pines.
It will be intriguing to see how Rahm gets on after two stunning birdies on his final two holes
Rahm oozes such self-assurance, however, it would almost be a surprise if he does not win again during this, his first trip to Europe since October 2019.
‘This is a great stretch starting with the Irish Open last week,’ said the world No 1. ‘I’ve already won that title a couple of times, so let’s see how I can do in these events. I’ll be going all out.’
Also part of a stellar field leading up to the season’s final major is Tommy Fleetwood plus a cracking corps of young Americans that, in addition to world No 2 Thomas, includes newly-wed Xander Schauffele and last year’s PGA Championship winner, Collin Morikawa.
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