HILTON HEAD ISLAND — Jon Rahm is going to crack open those glow-in-the-dark golf balls again. But now that he’s a Masters champion, it’s just not going to air on social media.
After his 2021 U.S. Open victory at his beloved Torrey Pines, video went viral of the Spaniard chugging from the national championship’s trophy and hitting illuminated balls from a patio into the stratosphere while Queen’s “We Are The Champions” blasted over the speakers.
“One hundred percent, that's going to happen again,” World No. 1 Rahm said after a valiant effort to finish at 11 under par at the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links only a week after winning the Masters by four shots. “But I don't think there's going to be any videos of it this time. You have to be careful what scenario the green jacket is seen in and I'm fully aware of that. I wouldn't be surprised if you guys don't see many pictures of it.”
Completely understandable.
Rahm’s wife, Kelley, has the green jacket celebrations organized for Tuesday at Silver Leaf in Scottsdale where Rahm plays out of. “I'm not much of a drinker, but there will definitely celebrations,” Rahm, 28, said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Rahm has barely been able to soak up his second major championship victory given he immediately came to Hilton Head Island to “honor a commitment” to play the Heritage, which is a $20 million designated event.
“I can't help but be proud of what I've done this week,” Rahm said. “To come here, I know the expectations weren't really high to the public, but in my mind every time I tee it up, I'm going to try to do my best. People paid their hard-earned money to [watch the Masters champion].”
It was also his 10th PGA Tour start of 2023, of which he has won four. Facing a week off, the fourth Spaniard to win the green jacket can’t wait to put on the CBS telecast on and watch all the highlights from his four-shot victory over Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson.
“Yeah, I can finally let myself think about it,” Rahm said with a laugh. “Do all those things I would have done in a normal week [after a win]. I still haven't seen the broadcast of how things unfolded on Sunday, and I usually like to see how it went. I like to see it, not for myself. I like to see what everybody else did. This is fun to be on the other side of things and kind of remember.
“Not that I'll sit down for five hours and watch whole thing … I’ll see some highlights. Enjoy last week and kind of let myself you know dive into what happened and really enjoy it. and process it.”
It’s only a week of celebrations for the 11-time PGA Tour winner. In two weeks, Rahm will defend his Mexico Open title at Vidanta Vallarta.
“We'll see how the week unfolds, but it's time to be home and it's time to be dad,” the father-of-two said. “I most likely I won't be touching any clubs until Wednesday.”
And then he added, “Maybe until Friday.”