In a 24-Hour Span at Bay Hill, Jon Rahm Learned How Golf Is Sometimes ... Golf

The world No. 1 isn't any less of a world-beater after a surprising T39 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Alex Miceli writes, just one who knows the game's peaks and valleys.

On Mondays, Alex Miceli will check in with what he learned over the last week.

Jon Rahm was—and still is—the hottest golfer coming to Ponte Vedra Beach and the Players this week.

No offense to Kurt Kitayama, who came close to doubling his career earnings on the PGA Tour with one roll of the dice.

No wonder he lives in Las Vegas.

Back to Rahm, hottest player, yes, but he also learned a hard lesson which anyone who plays golf for a living or even recreationally knows: when everything is going right, well, you forget that golf is golf.

And when it goes wrong, it’s just translated into one of the four-letter words you don’t say in front of the children.

Which means that golf is a game that is so unpredictable it can drive you to elation or madness.

When Winston Churchill was describing the Soviet Union in an October 1939 speech, he called the communist enclave "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma."

That is perfect for the four days Rahm experienced at Bay Hill last week.

The top player in the world opened with a 7-under 65 and it wasn’t a surprise he was leading after the first round, but that 65 on a very difficult golf course was amazing.

“You have to take it very much in stages,” Rahm said of how he picked apart Bay Hill last Thursday. “Obviously you must put it in the fairway. Once you put it in the fairway, what hole are you on? Is it a number you can be aggressive with, a shot you can be aggressive with or not. That's what I think I did well. Even when I was in the fairway, I picked my battles.”

It was his ninth consecutive round in the 60s, a streak that started in the first round of the WM Phoenix Open. Over those rounds, his scoring average was 66.89.

What happened next was also golf and anyone who has played the game experiences the sudden drop from 20,000 feet to almost rock bottom from round-to-round, hole-to-hole or shot-to-shot.

Nothing is given nor expected.

“For most of the day I managed it. It's just the last five holes, even though I didn't feel like I was making bad swings, I just couldn't quite get it going and finished poorly the last stretch,” Rahm said after a second-round 4-over 76. “Main thing is, two swings that didn't feel bad, both of 'em end up in the water. That's costing me two shots right there. Luckily, I shot 7 under yesterday and I'm not too far off.”

Well, Rahm would shoot another 76 on Saturday and eventually finish T39, 1 over for the tournament.

What I learned from the Rahm’s second round is it's golf, and golf happens to the best.

What I also learned about Rahm is he has matured far more than his age on his birth certificate indicates. Now that's he's learned to live with golf's mysteries, the only thing left is to contend in and win more majors.