Jon Rahm was left fuming on the ninth tee during the opening round of the Masters on Thursday, with the LIV Golf star visibly frustrated as he threatened to snap his driver
Jon Rahm’s frustrations were evident during the opening round of the Masters on Thursday, as he had to restrain himself from breaking his driver after a wayward tee shot. Rahm returned to Augusta National two years after claiming the coveted green jacket in Georgia.
Although he couldn’t mount a strong title defence last year, the Spaniard – who secured LIV Golf’s £13.8million solo prize in 2024 – arrived hoping to make a serious impact at the season’s inaugural major.
However, things didn’t start smoothly for the Legion XIII player, especially during his tee shot on the par-four ninth hole. Sitting at two-over-par before making the turn, Rahm’s troubles deepened.
After watching his drive drift sharply toward the trees, the 30-year-old let his club fall to the ground. Clearly frustrated, he retrieved it and motioned as if to snap it over his leg, but ultimately thought better of it and continued down the fairway.
Luckily for Rahm, the ball took a favourable bounce and rolled back into play, allowing him to salvage a par – a result he likely welcomed after his errant drive. That good fortune didn’t last long though.
Further struggles followed, with Rahm carding consecutive bogeys on the 10th and 11th, moving to four-over through 11 holes. After clinching his second career major in Georgia in 2023, Rahm wasn’t able to replicate that form at any of the marquee tournaments during the 2024 season.
He wrapped up the day at +3 and claimed afterward: “I’m confident. It’s a very difficult golf course. It’s going to get harder. If I can get off to a good start, post a round in the 60s tomorrow, then the weekend could be a new story.”
When asked to pinpoint what went wrong, he admitted: “A bit of everything. Not good off the tee, and then the few chances I had, I didn’t take advantage of.”
Eager to rediscover the form that earned him victory at Augusta two years ago, he said ahead of the tournament: “I’m feeling good. Feeling very good. Not my favourite major season last year, that’s true.
“Didn’t play great here, didn’t play great at the PGA, and wasn’t even able to tee it up at the U.S. Open. I was very happy to finish up there at The Open on a very challenging week.
“At least set the tone hopefully for this year, and feel like I’m playing much better golf coming into this week. Playing at Doral last week was extremely challenging. It was definitely one of the hardest setups I’ve played.
“And besides one bad score on 17 on Sunday, which was actually one of the better swings of the week that led to a very bad number, I feel really good.
“I feel like I played better than obviously the score reflects, but at the end of the day, it’s golf. Feeling really, really good about this year in general.”
The Spaniard currently sits third in LIV’s season-long rankings, having placed in the top 10 at all five events on the 2025 calendar so far.
