CHARLOTTE – Jon Rahm finished tied for eighth Sunday at the PGA Championship, seven shots behind champion Scottie Scheffler – full stop.
If one asked ChatGPT for additional context, the AI-driven program would also point out the Spaniard closed with a 2-over 73 at Quail Hollow Club, including a horrid final three-hole stretch that ended any chance of a major redemption story.
What AI and a passing glance might miss, however, is that for a brief glorious moment late during Sunday’s final round, Rahm tied Scheffler for the lead, teasing the type of layered duel that makes the current version of professional golf so compelling.
Rahm injected the year’s second major – which had been dominated by a less-than-star-studded leaderboard, mud balls and non-conforming drivers – with a jolt starting at the par-4 eighth. Two groups ahead of Scheffler, Rahm’s tee shot at the short eighth hole bounced just over the green for an easy birdie. He added another at the par-5 10th and at No. 11 he hit a towering approach from a fairway bunker to 15 feet to pull even with Scheffler, who had been five shots clear earlier in the day.
As bad as his finish was – and it was mud-ball bad – Rahm’s title chances took a mortal blow when he failed to birdie Nos. 14 and 15, the only legitimate scoring opportunities on Quail Hollow’s closing stretch. When he arrived at the 16th tee he was a shot behind the world No. 1 and needed something special to happen on the “Green Mile,” which is statistically the game’s most difficult finish.
At the downhill 16th, he missed the fairway left, found the bunker right of the green and failed to get up and down for par; which prompted an even more bold, some might say reckless, tee shot at the par-3 17th hole that bounced once before rocketing over the green and into the water.
He found the water again at the finishing hole to complete his bogey-double bogey-double bogey walk-off and a final resting spot on the second page of the leaderboard.
“The last three holes, it’s a tough pill to swallow right now. Especially knowing 16 is not the narrowest fairway in the world. That bunker is in play. You’re lucky enough, you have a shot to the pin,” Rahm reasoned. “Not a terrible swing, but bad enough to put me in a real difficult situation.
“At that point, 18 was just rough, right. The same mistake I did on 16 was the same mistake on 18, just different clubs. It wasn’t that bad of a swing, not that far off. The result is horrendous, but feeling-wise it’s not that far off.”
Grace is normally not something players of Rahm’s caliber have much interest in after a loss, but even the ultimate competitor was able to separate the feeling from the fate.
Since joining LIV Golf in the fall of 2023, Rahm had been fighting the notion that his move to 54-hole, team golf had somehow dulled the edge that made him such a dogged competitor. In 19 starts on the Saudi-backed league, he’s never finished outside the top 10 and he’s won twice.
But what matters, at least to the general golf fan, is what he’s done or hasn’t done in the majors since his move to LIV. Prior to Sunday at Quail Hollow, he had just a single top-10 finish in his four post-LIV starts, and even that T-7 at last year’s Open Championship is less than the sum of its parts considering he started the final round tied for 15th, six shots back and never in serious contention.
There was also last year’s Olympics, where he began the final round tied for the lead but closed with a 70 and played his way off the podium entirely.
Brandel, McGinley: LIV set Rahm, Bryson up to fail
On PGA Saturday and Sunday, it was Scottie Scheffler who came through under pressure — and LIV Golf players Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau who did not. For Brandel Chamblee and Paul McGinley, that’s no coincidence.
Critics argued his move to LIV Golf had somehow robbed him of the secret sauce that made him a two-time major champion, that his talent had been softened by the breakaway league’s brand of “Golf, But Louder.”
Rahm addressed the major elephant in the room at Quail Hollow, pointing out that his game was not where he wanted before he bolted for the LIV riches.
“Me going to LIV and playing worse in majors had nothing to do with where I was playing golf. My swing was simply not at the level it had to be for me to compete,” he said following a Saturday 67. “It’s easier to post a score on non-major championship courses and venues, and I think when you get to the biggest stages like this one and these courses, those flaws are going to get exposed, and it did.”
To Rahm’s point, after his victory at the ’23 Masters, he had just two top-10 finishes in his final 10 tournaments as a PGA Tour member.
History will categorize the 2025 PGA Championship as another missed opportunity for Rahm, but a closer examination suggests circumstance, combined with a sublime finish by Scheffler, cost him at Quail Hollow, not a game that has been worn down by the green pastures of enormous signing bonuses and team golf.
For the second consecutive major Sunday, the PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf dynamic provided the perfect backdrop and Rahm proved he was still capable of performing at the highest level. He also proved he’s still intensely driven, regardless of who signs his paychecks.
“I mean, hard to express how hungry I may be for a major,” he said this week, “about as hungry as anybody can be in this situation.”
