Rahm hasn’t had much luck staying healthy for tournaments this year. After the world #1 was from the Memorial in June, he again tested positive for covid before the Tokyo Olympics a couple months later.
Then last week, Rahm came down with a stomach bug the day before he was set to compete in the pro-am prior to the Fortinet Championship. He barely missed the cut after his round on Friday and headed home.
The Ryder Cup begins on Friday, and it seems Rahm could use all the recovery time he can get. He was the only golfer out of 24 to also compete at Silverado Resort & Spa’s North Course last week.
“Well, I’ve got two more days off. I think it’s primarily rest,” Rahm said. “I just, you know, I feel like with having those stomach issues early, I wasn’t nearly as rested as I could have been, my body got a little bit tight, but I’m feeling good today. It was a tough course out there.
“If anything, I get to rest a couple extra days and be able to figure out what’s going on with my swing, which technically is not really anything bad. It’s just I think a lot of those swings were made to look worse because of how tough it is out there. It’s firm, it’s fast, the fairways are hard to hit. I just maybe didn’t hit the shot sometimes. I just feel I could have been rewarded a little bit more, that’s about it.”
Not Feeling Like Himself
Rahm’s first two rounds did not go as well as he hoped. He ended Friday with a 1-under 71 with the cut at 3-under after 36 holes. It marked only his second cut in 2021.
“It’s very simple — not my best ball-striking-wise,” Rahm said. “Still wasn’t bad. Could have been better on the greens, you know. Feel like I might have made a couple of mistakes mentally on some approach shots, maybe I could have focused a little more, visualized better, but I think I left a lot of shots on the greens.
“The back nine, starting on 10, I hit a lot of good putts, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17. Maybe I didn’t have the speed, but a lot of them were very close and they just didn’t go in. And yesterday, I didn’t make enough putts; I feel like I left a lot of them inside 10 feet. Make a couple others, and at least I’m making the cut, maybe a momentum change and I finish a little better. It’s unfortunate to start the year with basically one of my worst Tour rounds in a while. It’s what it is. Course was tough out there today and just need to be better.”
Missing the cut at Fortinet was no doubt disappointing for Rahm. However, he is likely relieved that he will have a chance to rest and recover before heading to Whistling Straits.
