Jon Rahm admits LIV Golf is easier than the PGA Tour

The Spaniard has been in fine form on LIV Golf, but ahead of the 2025 US Open at Oakmont, he offered a brutally honest take on what it really means.

Jon Rahm is on a remarkable run of form on LIV Golf, with 20 consecutive top-10 finishes since joining the breakaway league at the start of the 2024 season. Yes, you read that right: in 20 starts, he hasn’t finished outside the top 10 even once. It’s an impressive stat, but Rahm isn’t getting carried away with it, especially as he’s yet to pick up a win this year.

“I would happily trade a bunch of them [top 10s] for more wins, that’s for sure,” Rahm said in his press conference ahead of the US Open at Oakmont.

And, as Rahm eyes a second US Open title this week, he didn’t shy away from addressing the elephant in the room: that the streak might look better on paper than it does in context.

“I’ve been playing really good golf, yes, but I’d be lying if I said that it wasn’t easier to have top 10s with a smaller field. That’s just the truth, right? Had I been playing full-field events, would I have [a] top 10 every single week? No.

“But I’ve been playing good enough to say that I would most likely have been inside the top 30 every single time and maybe even top 25, which for 21 straight tournaments I’d say that’s pretty good. I still would have had a lot of top 10s, that’s for sure.”

Rahm finished eighth in the most recent LIV event, LIV Golf Virginia, and admits that the performance wouldn’t have been good enough to crack the top 10 at a PGA Tour event.

“It’s hard to say. There’s definitely some weeks, like last week for example, having a weaker Sunday than everybody else, I don’t think I would have top 10’d. I was able to finish eighth. I think winning is equally as hard, but you can take advantage of a smaller field to finish higher.”

It’s basic maths – it’s easier to finish in the top 10 out of 54 players than 156 – but it’s classic Rahm frankness to admit it so openly.

“As much as I want to give it credit personally for having that many top 10s, I wouldn’t always give it as the full amount, just knowing that it’s a smaller field.”

Rahm’s not-so-small advantage this week at Oakmont

As for this week’s challenge, Rahm knows exactly what kind of player wins at Oakmont: the big and strong kind.

“It’s a long golf course,” he said. “Any time you have heavy rough and length, just being able to hit a distance… that speed to move the ball forward is always going to be a massive, massive advantage.”

Rahm pointed to past Oakmont champions like Dustin Johnson, Ernie Els, Angel Cabrera, Larry Nelson, Johnny Miller, and Jack Nicklaus – all long, powerful players who could handle the demanding setup.

“In a major like this, having that power is always helpful. I would like to see all those champions in common. I would like to guess that that week the driving was very much on point. They were probably really solid off the tee, and that’s usually the way to start.

“I think it’s nearly impossible to win a tournament here if you’re not hitting it well off the tee because, if you keep putting yourself off the fairway, for lack of a better term, you’re going to get Oakmont very often.”

Asked specifically about his own ability to muscle shots out of the rough, Rahm was again honest: sometimes you can, but mostly you can’t.

“When it’s this thick, sometimes you get somewhat lucky to where the grass is strong enough to hold the ball and you might be able to have a shot. A lot of the times you won’t. It all depends on the club. Obviously if you’re looking past an 8-iron, it’s always going to be very difficult to move it. It’s to a point where you’re trying to get more rollout than carry. It’s very lie dependent.

“There’s going to be times where you get very lucky and have a wayward tee shot and have a near perfect shot, and there’s going to be times when you miss the fairway by a foot and you’re going to have to punch out 20, 50 yards at best. At that point, it’s luck of the draw.”

With brutal rough, firm greens, and mind-bogglingly long holes, this US Open is shaping up to be a power player’s paradise – and that plays right into Rahm’s hands. Whether he can clock a harder-to-get top-10 finish or even pick up his first major since the 2023 Masters remains to be seen.

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