Paul McGinley considers it ‘disappointing’ Jon Rahm has had to withdraw from the US Open, but at the same time has criticised him for ‘no longer being the same player’ that he was prior to his move to the LIV Golf League this season.Â
Rahm, 29, bowed out of this week’s US Open at Pinehurst No.2 in North Carolina on Tuesday.
The $600m LIV Golf superstar and 2021 US Open champion cited a foot infection for his WD.
It was the same reason Rahm withdrew during the second round of LIV Golf Houston last week.
Rahm’s omission from the 2024 US Open marks his first absence at a major since the 2016 US PGA.
While Golf Channel and Sky Sports Golf analyst Paul McGinley admits Rahm’s WD is a disappointment for the US Open, he has come down hard on the former World No.1 for being nowhere near the same player as he was this time last season.
Rahm won four times on the PGA Tour last season, highlighted by a second major title at the 2023 Masters.
He also finished inside the top 10 in three of the four majors.
But fast forward to June 2024 following his shock switch to LIV Golf at the start of the year, and despite finishing in the top 10 in the first seven 48-man events of the season, he remains winless in individual tournaments on the Saudi-backed circuit.
That is something many people considered unthinkable at the start of the season when LIV Golf secured its biggest signing to date from the rival PGA Tour.
Rahm’s Legion XIII team, which also comprises Tyrrell Hatton, Caleb Surratt and Kieran Vincent, has won two of the eight LIV Golf events so far this season.
But in the majors, which let’s be honest is what matters most, Rahm finished T45 at The Masters in April and then followed it up with a lacklustre MC at the US PGA in May.
The Spaniard’s latest WD marks ‘a continuation of a very disappointing season’ in the eyes of former European Ryder Cup captain McGinley.
McGinley also thinks Rahm has ‘lost the consistency and the intensity’ in his game in 2024.
Scroll below for McGinley’s comments…
McGinley said of Rahm:
“I think it’s disappointing, obviously. I think the tournament has lost a player we were all looking forward to seeing. Although having said that he’s had a very poor season, particularly when it’s come to major championships so far. He’s not the same competitor that he was this last time last year. He doesn’t seem to have the spring in his step, or the play, the consistency, the intensity that he had this time last year when he was arguably the most dominant player in the game, if not he was very close to Scheffler or the closest guy to Scheffler, so it’s a continuation of a very disappointing season for Jon Rahm.”Â
McGinley’s comments about Rahm came several hours after the LIV Golf star hit out at the media for their criticism of his game in 2024.
“Yeah, I’m in a happy place,” Rahm said during his Tuesday press conference, shortly before he eventually withdrew from the US Open.
“It’s not like I’ve been playing bad, even though a lot of you make it sound like I’m playing bad. I had two bad weeks.”
Rahm has been replaced in the 2024 US Open field by Jackson Suber, who will be making just his third start as a Tour pro.
With Rahm having to withdraw, there will now be 12 LIV Golf League players in action at the US Open.
That is one short of the 13 LIV Golf League players that contested The Masters in April, and four shy of the 16 that participated in the PGA.
