Jon Rahm: PGA Championship victory at Oak Hill would make career Grand Slam a ‘true reality’ | Golf News

Jon Rahm can move three-quarters of the way to a career Grand Slam with victory at the PGA Championship; World No 1 has already won four times in 2023, including at The Masters; Watch all four rounds live on Sky Sports Golf

World No 1 Jon Rahm has set his sights on joining an elite group of players by “riding that wave” and adding to his major tally at the PGA Championship.

Rahm won five tournaments in a nine-event stretch between October and February, including three on the PGA Tour, then bounced back from withdrawing from The Players due to illness and a group-stage exit at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play to claim a dominant victory at The Masters.

The four-shot win at Augusta National was Rahm’s fourth victory of the year and second major title, following on from his 2021 US Open triumph, with the Spaniard excited by his form ahead of his bid for further success this week at Oak Hill.

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Highlights from Jon Rahm’s final round at The Masters, where he secured his second major title

“I’m confident,” Rahm said in his pre-tournament press conference. “I feel good. I feel good. It’s been a great year. It’s been an amazing year. I’m just hoping to keep adding more to it.

“It has been a lot of fun, and hopefully I can keep riding that wave. It doesn’t happen often that a player wins more than one major in a year, so it would be amazing to be able to join my name to that list.”

Rahm can become the first player since Brooks Koepka in 2019 to win multiple majors in a calendar year

A Grand Slam for Rahm?

PGA Championship victory for Rahm would present him the chance to complete the career Grand Slam at The Open this summer, although the 28-year-old is refusing to get carried away about the possibility of becoming the first player since Tiger Woods to win all four majors.

“Obviously if I were to win this week or the Open Championship it [the Grand Slam] really becomes a true reality, but winning two majors is not easy and picking which ones you win is a little ludicrous to think about,” Rahm added.

“I think obviously winning the Grand Slam would absolutely be amazing, but I think – without sounding too conceited or arrogant, I’d rather focus on the number of majors you win than having the Grand Slam per se.

“Obviously it would be amazing, but the more you put yourself in the position to be able to win majors, the more likely you might be to get it done. It’s a very small number of players to do it, last one being Tiger [Woods]. It’s obviously not an easy thing to accomplish.”

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Ahead of this week’s PGA Championship, check out the top 10 shots ever played at the tournament

LIV players in field ‘doesn’t make a difference’

Rahm’s closest challenge at The Masters came from former PGA champions Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka, who are both members of the LIV Golf League, with last month’s major the first opportunity since The Open for golfers from the Saudi-backed circuit to compete against PGA Tour players.

There are 17 LIV players in the field at the PGA Championship, including Mickelson, Koepka and Dustin Johnson – who won a LIV tournament in Tulsa on Sunday – with Rahm unconcerned about them featuring in the majors.

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Rory McIlroy gives a very short answer to a question about the future of the professional game at a press conference ahead of the PGA Championship

“I’ve never had any negative feelings towards any player that went over to LIV,” Rahm explained. “I’ve mentioned many times I still play with many of them.

“Try to play practice rounds with Phil [Mickelson], played with Talor Gooch yesterday. Really doesn’t make a difference to me. That’s why my point of view. To me, it’s like nothing changed.”

Watch the 105th PGA Championship throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage begins on Thursday from 1pm on Sky Sports Golf.