Jon Rahm surprises self, battles ‘swing thoughts’ in T-4 at CJ Cup

This wasn’t what Jon Rahm was looking for. 

Trailing Rory McIlroy by one shot after 54 holes of the CJ Cup at Congaree, Rahm was aiming for his second win in as many worldwide starts (he won the DP World Tour’s Spanish Open two weeks ago). 

The 27-year-old Spaniard stuck with McIlroy by shooting 2 under on the front nine on Sunday. However, at the end of 72 holes, Rahm finished T-4, four shots behind his Ryder Cup teammate, the new world No. 1. 

Though it was a disappointing finish for Rahm, it was better than he initially thought he’d do. 

“Listen, with how bad I felt Thursday morning, if you told me I was going to shoot 14 under, I wouldn’t believe you, I’m not gonna lie,” Rahm said after the final round. “That 9-under-par round (on Friday) was something I never expected. The other three rounds is pretty much how I felt … battled out to shoot a couple under par because swing wasn’t quite there. It was good off the tee, but my iron game just wasn’t good.”

Full-field scores from The CJ Cup in South Carolina

Why wasn’t he confident with his swing this week? 

“I was battling swing thoughts,” Rahm said. “I don’t like to have too many swing thoughts on my approach and definitely thinking more than I would like on some of those shots out there today. I was able to still execute and play good golf, it’s just not an easy golf course out there. If I can shoot under par uncomfortably, manage a couple mistakes, I’d still have a chance to win.”

How did Rahm manage his swing thoughts and almost pull out the victory?

“It’s not really battling, I’m just uncomfortable,” he said. “I don’t want to start thinking about my swing mid-round because I can’t hit 10 balls to fix it, right? So I just try to play and hit the shots and execute. I did a really good job with some of them, it’s just not an easy golf course. Any other golf course that isn’t as slippery as this one I could have had a good chance, but here you have to be very precise.”

Now, however, Rahm won’t have to think about anything golf related for quite some time. 

“Looking forward to some time off,” he said. “Will not touch a club for the foreseeable future, very needed.”