Jon Rahm took in a simple pleasure when he arrived at Muirfield Village Golf Club this week for the Memorial Tournament.
With no COVID protocols restricting access to certain areas compared to last year, Rahm could use the locker room reserved for past champions that he hadn’t had the privilege of getting access to since winning the 2020 Memorial Tournament.
If not for poor luck, he would have been the only two-time champion there.
“It’s all good vibes,” Rahm said. “It’s a golf course that I like and I’m comfortable on, so hopefully I can do it a third year and keep playing good golf and give myself a chance on Sunday.”
Rahm returns to Dublin after having to withdraw from the tournament last year due to a positive COVID-19 test. He had just posted a stunning round of 8-under, 64, on Saturday to finish 54 holes at 18-under par with a six-shot lead when PGA Tour officials notified him of his positive test that he took earlier that day.
Rahm, currently the No. 2 ranked golfer in the world, needed to shoot 3-under, 69 on Sunday to break the four-round tournament record set by Tom Lehman in 1994. He also would have become the first back-to-back winner since Tiger Woods won three straight in 1999-2001.
The drama that unfolded last year amplified the storyline of Rahm winning his first major tournament at the U.S. Open two weeks later. Even if that hadn’t happened, however, Rahm’s concerns were elsewhere when he had to withdraw.
“Yes, I walked off the course, I was told I couldn’t play, and I was mad for about 10 minutes,” Rahm said. “But instantly my switch flipped and I called my wife and I made sure that she was OK and my son was OK.”
When he was told by Dr. Thomas Hospel that he had tested positive, Rahm fell to his knees in utter disbelief over the fact he had to exit the tournament. Shortly thereafter, he said, he actually found the entire episode amusing. He still had a good sense of humor about it a year later.
Pro-Am at Memorial Tournament: Peyton and Eli Manning, Steve Young headline celebrities in Pro-Am at Memorial Tournament
“Once I knew they were OK, I was in my little trailer — that little COVID hut we had — and me and my caddie were laughing,” he said. “We ordered milkshakes and we were laughing at the funny part of everything. I mean, the fact that that happened; that I had a six-shot lead and it’s gone, I can’t even play. I mean, it’s just — the irony of it all kind of made us laugh.”
At the time of his positive test last year, Rahm was within the 14-day window after getting the vaccine. He said at the U.S. Open two weeks later that he wished he had gotten it sooner, but it wasn’t on his mind because he was concentrated on his game and the PGA Tour tour schedule. It wasn’t, he said, because he didn’t believe, rather than he not believing in the effectiveness of the vaccines.
The scenario where a player would be removed this year because of a positive test is nearly impossible. The PGA Tour no longer requires players, vaccinated or unvaccinated, to test for COVID-19. If a player has symptoms, it’s up to him to self-report. Rahm said he would still be honest.
“Now I feel like you can have symptoms and keep it to yourself and nobody will know,” Rahm said. “You’ve still got to the right thing. Physical, personal well-being and health, it’s always going to be more important than a golf tournament, and that’s just a fact.”
If he could change anything, he wants the WD next to his name removed for at least a top-10 finish.
“I hate that,” he said. “So at the least the PGA Tour, if they are listening, just give me the top-10, you know. I think I would have shot 85 that day.”
jmyers@dispatch.com