Olympic Gold Would Have Rewritten Jon Rahm's Season, Instead the Intrigue Continues

The Spaniard's trying year appeared to be turning with nine holes to go on Sunday in Paris, instead he left without a medal in one of the year's most shocking collapses.

Jon Rahm's quest for Olympic gold, seemingly in hand, shockingly unraveled on the back nine Sunday at Le Golf National. / Chris Condon/PGA TOUR/IGF

SAINT QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France — Jon Rahm’s body of work heading into the Olympic golf tournament was largely and somewhat erroneously dismissed, mostly because the big offseason splash he made in signing with the LIV Golf was not followed by a bigger splash in the League tournaments.

The conversation focused on the major championships and it obviously wasn’t great. A lackluster tie for 45th in his defense of the Masters title; a missed cut on a relatively benign Valhalla course at the PGA Championship; a withdrawal at the U.S. Open due to a foot infection; and then, finally, a tie for seventh at the British Open, where he was never really in contention.

Rahm did win in his last start before that Olympics at the LIV Golf U.K. event and a lot of the conjecture over his season failed to point out that he was never out of the top 10 in any LIV event, is second in the season-long points standings and, with two events to go, could reasonably become the overall winner.

Whether you want to give LIV Golf its due or not, it’s certainly not been a terrible year, just not to the standard we’d come to expect of a two-time major winner who for a time was ranked No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking in 2023.

The Olympics, of course, was an opportunity to spin any negative narratives. The tournament provided an excellent stage for all involved, with a competitive field that was stoked to be competing for medals.

So Rahm’s collapse over the final eight holes on Sunday adds more intrigue to what has been, at the very least, a trying year for him.

“I don’t remember the last time I played a tournament and I felt this—I don’t know what the word is because, I not only feel like I let myself down but to just not get it done for the whole country of Spain, it’s a lot more painful than I would like it to be,” Rahm said.

Rahm led by four strokes with eight holes to play after a strong run to the top of the leaderboard. He looked nearly unbeatable.

But he played that back nine in 39 strokes. Scottie Scheffler, who won the gold medal, played them in 29.

Rahm not only failed to win, he didn’t get a medal either, falling two shots short of Hideki Matsuyama for third place after needing a birdie at the final hole and then three-putting for a bogey.

It all started to unravel with a three-putt for bogey at Le Golf National’s par-3 11th hole. Then at the 12th hole, a poor tee shot led to another bogey.

But the fatal blow for Rahm was the par-5 14th, the easiest hole on the course all week. He was forced to lay up after a drive into the rough, but then left his third shot short of the green. From there, he hit a poor chip short, got the ball onto the green and missed a bogey putt for shocking double-bogey 7, the worst score all week at the 14th.

“The main mistake is the third shot on 14,” Rahm said. “Once I missed the fairway, which can’t happen because it’s a tough tee shot to hit, you know, put a lay up, it was a good layup, I can’t do what I did on the third shot. Can’t go left; 8-iron, 162 meters (about 178 yards), I believe. Trying to take long out of play and knowing that short right is fine. Yeah, can’t go left of that green, right, and ended up in a terrible lie. Ended up paying the price for compounding mistakes on that hole.”

Rahm was the only player to reach 20 under par for the tournament and Scheffler’s winning score was 19 under. It was a tough, stunning turn of events.

“I’ve gotten the question, where this tournament would rank in my opinion or what I would think it would feel like to win, and I think by losing today, I’m getting a much deeper appreciation of what this tournament means to me than if I had won any medal, right,” Rahm said. “I’m getting a taste of how much it really mattered. I’ve been very honored to represent Spain in many, many different events, and to not get this one done stings quite a bit.

“Two of the most meaningful weeks in my career is two events where we make no money,” he said. “And I’ve said that a million times, and I’ll say it again because the Ryder Cup and this one are up there.

“(This is) different to the Ryder Cup. It’s different. It’s not a major either. But I feel like it’s almost the ultimate prize representing your country. And yeah, I mean, that’s what makes it so special.”

Rahm has three more events left with LIV Golf beginning with next week’s tournament at the Greenbrier. It might bring him some personal pride to see his new team, Legion XIII, with LIV’s team championship; it has won four tournament titles this year.

But it’s unrealistic to think it would mean as much as having won a medal, especially gold, on Sunday.

As for his other ultimate goal, the Ryder Cup, there is still some haziness involved there. Rahm needs to play four DP World Tour events this year—plus pay fines and suspensions—to be eligible for the 2025 European team. The Olympics counted as one event. He’d like to play the Spanish Open after LIV season concludes, but his wife’s pregnancy is complicating matters.

How that is resolved will be interesting to see play out. So, too, the ongoing negotiations in a fractured game. Rahm has admitted that he felt his December signing with LIV Golf would hasten any kind of a deal—one that eight months later sees no resolution.

No medals, just pride for Wyndham Clark

Wyndham Clark was the source of considerable criticism for his place among the four American qualifiers for the Olympics, especially given his major record of 2024. He missed the cut at the Masters, PGA Championship and British Open and tied for 56th at the U.S. Open, where Bryson DeChambeau won—and did not qualify for the team.

DeChambeau’s fate, of course, was all but sealed by his move to LIV Golf in July 2022. That is when the qualification system for the Olympics began. It concluded with the U.S. Open this year. And he was only earning points in the major championships.

Whether the Official World Golf Ranking System is flawed or not—and for now, it does not accredit LIV events—it was the vehicle used to determine all 60 players and was in place and given little thought until DeChambeau shook up the world with his major run this year that included a tie for sixth at the Masters and a runner-up finish at the U.S. Open

It was never going to be changed at the last minute to include him.

Whether it should be changed going forward is a fair debate.

But all of it seemed a bit unfair to Clark, who won the 2023 U.S. Open, won at Pebble Beach earlier this year and has five other top-five finishes.

His record appears skewed by the poor major performances, but he played under the same system as everyone else and finished third behind Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele. He actually was ahead of two other players—Collin Morikawa and Patrick Cantlay—who also finished ahead of DeChambeau.

It didn’t help when Clark went bogey-double bogey-bogey to start the tournament and shoot 75. On Friday, his 68 included a double bogey at the 18th. But he rallied with scores of 65-65 on the weekend without much more to play for than pride. He ended up tied for 14th.

“I think it's more pride for myself and my country,” he said. “I wanted to make sure that I showed up for my country. I didn't want anyone to think that I was doing this as just an exhibition or just coming here to have fun. I was serious about it. I was very pissed after round one because I wanted to medal. So I'm really bummed about it.

“But at the same time, I said this is for something greater than myself. It's for my country and it also builds a lot of momentum for the Playoffs that we have coming up.”

Clark said he was aware of some of the chatter associated with him, including those who wondered if he was having too much fun as he noted he got to Paris early, took part in the Opening Ceremony and also attended several other events.

“Yeah, poor start. I don't think it has anything to do with attending events or not attending events,” he said. “This potentially could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and to be able to go watch events, spend time in the Village and get the full experience, may never get that again. So I wanted to make sure I did everything right. I don't regret anything I did.

“Once I got to Tuesday, I shut everything down and was ready to go. I played really good golf for 60 holes. I just had nine bad holes.”

Clark said he’s been “struggling a lot with my starts, and it's been tough to overcome, especially the majors, I started so poorly and then as I get to the back nine on Friday and I start playing really good golf, I barely missed the cut, and some of the cuts that I did make, then I back-doored into the top 10.

“So starting poorly, that's something I've really got to work on; at least just get out of the gates somewhat solid; I feel like I can play good on the weekend.”

And it's on to Greensboro

After a week off for the Olympics, the PGA Tour schedule resumes this week in Greensboro with the Wyndham Championship, the final full-field and regular season event on the FedEx Cup schedule.

For the second year in a row, only the top 70 in points will advance to the FedEx Cup playoffs, which start next week in Memphis at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. The top 50 from there advance to the BMW Championship at Castle Pines in Colorado followed by the top 30 at East Lake in Atlanta for the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup title.

MORE: Full field for the Wyndham Championship

The fall schedule resumes in September with an opportunity for those outside of the top 70 to improve their position and those who are outside of the top 125 able to secure their exemptions for 2025.

There are a couple of notable names due to their absence and attendance at the Wyndham this week.

Rickie Fowler is not playing. And Shane Lowry is.

Fowler is 104th in FedEx Cup points, which means his season is done. The six-time PGA Tour winner who captured the Rocket Mortgage Classic in 2023 is exempt for the 2025 season. But his way into the signature events will now have to be via sponsor invites or playing well in the various events leading up to them.

After a breakthrough last year that saw Fowler picked for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, there’s not been a lot to cheer in 2024. He had no top-10 finishes and missed six cuts. He played in all eight signature events, with a best finish a tie for 18th at the RBC Heritage—his best of the year.

Fowler barely made the cut at the British Open and tied for 71st. He appears to have shut it down, although it is unclear if he will make any starts in the fall. Fowler’s wife, Allie, is also due with the couple’s second child.

Then there’s Lowry, who is 10th in the FedEx Cup standings, assured of making the first two events and—with any success at all—headed to Atlanta for the first time for the Tour Championship.

Lowry, who won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with Rory McIlroy and also had two top-six finishes in the majors, admitted that the Comcast Business pool—which pays bonuses to the top 10—was one of his reasons for entering the Wyndham.

So, too, is the desire to assure a place at East Lake.

“I give you my reasoning,” Lowry told the Associated Press. “I was trying to make the decision over the last couple of weeks, because if I don't do as well in the Open (sixth), I wasn't going to go and chase it. I don't like chasing stuff.

“But I also hate the unknown. I like to know what I'm doing and plan where I'm going, where I'm playing, what my family are doing because we are going back to Florida, school, and everything is starting back.

“So our life needs to be in order. I sort of sat down with my coach and my team last week and were like, right, what's the best thing to do. I was like, look, there's only four weeks left in the FedEx Cup.

“I think this is probably going to be one of the best chances I'll ever have to actually win the FedEx Cup so every point might count at the end of the day as well, not only for Comcast and if I can make a hundred FedEx Cup points next week or more, it's certainly going to help me along the way.

“At the end of the day I have goal in my head where I want to be going into Atlanta and if I'm there, I think I'll have a shot of doing something cool.”