Masters legend suggests two reasons for Jon Rahm's disaster start at Augusta
Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee and former Masters champion Sir Nick Faldo were among those to heavily dissect Jon Rahm's below-par performance after the Spaniard struggled on day one of the first men's major of the year.Rahm arrived at Augusta National as one of the pre-tournament favourites but endured a nightmarish start. The two-time major champion recorded his highest ever round and, for the first time in his Masters career, failed to register a single birdie. Statistically, Rahm was one of the worst players in the 91-man field, with the 31-year-old ranking 82nd off the tee and 89th on the greens. His hugely disappointing six-over 78 leaves Rahm with an uphill battle simply to make the cut and, in his words, needing a "Herculean" effort to slip on the green jacket for the second time on Sunday evening. Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT Article continues below ADVERTISEMENTFaldo floated the idea during Sky Sports' day one coverage that Rahm may be affected by his ongoing dispute with the DP World Tour. Jon Rahm Earlier in the week, Faldo, 67, urged the Spaniard to swallow his pride and settle his bill with the European-based circuit to ensure he can make a fifth Ryder Cup appearance next September.Rahm is refusing to pay the fines he has racked up for playing in LIV Golf events without required tournament releases. And Faldo also suggested that playing LIV Golf events were not the ideal preparation for the challenge of Augusta National. Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT Article continues below ADVERTISEMENTFaldo explained that the recent victors at LIV's stops in Singapore and South Africa finished well under par. "And then you come here and go 'I'm not doing that here,'" Faldo said. "It's a completely different mindset, making a couple of birdies and hanging on to it."I don't believe that is the best preparation, where the [PGA] Tour was obviously at TPC [Sawgrass]. Pretty tough, it's always fiddly."It's the mindset, the thinking, the strategy. There's no strategy to shooting 25-under. You aim at the flag and fire it, it plugs. Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT"Where here you've got a lot of thinking of good shots, bad shots, how to deal with all the challenges of Augusta National."Chamblee, unsurprisingly, ripped into the contingent of LIV Golf players after their poor showing on day one. Sergio Garcia topped the LIV Golf leaderboard at The Masters and was the only player not to finish over par. Bryson DeChambeau also struggled on day one and came unstuck at Amen Corner, needing three shots to escape a greenside bunker at the 11th. Former U.S. Open champion DeChambeau wasn't in a chatty mood as he discussed his opening effort. Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT"What Bryson did with his iron play is what Bryson has been doing with his iron play since the first year that he played here," he said on Sky Sports' post-round coverage. "I've really not seen any change in it."I detailed last night just how deficient he is in iron play here, he swings way in to out, gets a lot of surprises here and we saw today he hit just eight irons."There are 91 players in this field, if you look at the bottom of this field there are a lot of them are former players in it so, understandably, they're going to be pretty weak. "He was 72nd in strokes gained: approach, that's abysmal. So, no surprise with Bryson DeChambeau.”Chamblee said it appeared to him that it looked like Rahm "forgot how to play the game". Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT Jon Rahm "It's amazing to me," he said. "On every tee, he's swinging as hard as he can, it's like he's in a long drive contest. "I've never seen anybody swing it as hard as he's swinging it on every tee shot. It's like there’s no nuance or no niche to his golf swing."You're talking, though, about a guy who hit 82 per cent of greens-in-regulation on LIV. "They're not being challenged, they're not being tested, and so they're not ready. They're playing golf courses that are not particularly hard, they're not set up very hard, and they only have to beat five or six guys. Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT"If every single week you go out and you're not challenged – when I look at the statistics, it'd be like if Steph Curry was shooting free-throws with a hula-hoop-sized rim and thinking he's 100 per cent. "That's the false arrogance they would have coming in here."Chamblee added that, since LIV's inauguration in 2022, it has become increasingly evident to him that players from the rival league struggle in the majors. Subscribe to our Newsletter
