Jon Rahm would have been the favourite in the eyes of many heading into the final round of the PGA Championship, with the Spaniard starting Sunday two shots off the lead.
Rahm had produced a superb showing over the first three days at Aronimink. With that, there seemed to be a genuine possibility that the 31-year-old would move to within one leg of the Career Grand Slam.
Ultimately, it was Aaron Rai who was able to break out from the pack and get his hands on the Wanamaker Trophy.
But there were still plenty of positives for Rahm to take as he finished as the runner-up alongside Alex Smalley.
Jon Rahm’s performance at the PGA Championship has been lauded
Remarkably, he registered his first top five finish in a major since deciding to join LIV Golf. And speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, Ryan Lavner suggested that Rahm has reason to be extremely pleased with his efforts in Philadelphia.
“I think the number one player who’s not necessarily kicking himself, but who is going to be feeling like I could have easily won this golf tournament is Jon Rahm,” he said.
“In my opinion, I thought it was a great week for Rahmbo. I thought he played spectacularly. Look at the way that he did on Sunday. That was the most fairways of the week, most greens of the week. He just took 33 putts and just couldn’t quite get it unlocked, couldn’t quite take the lid off, he couldn’t quite get some of the momentum. But I thought overall, he really comported himself well, especially considering everything that’s been swirling around him and his future and LIV Golf over the past month. He had an incredibly disappointing performance at The Masters. For him to come back one month later, put everything that he said into practice in reality here at the PGA Championship, I thought it was a great week.
“He did not sound defensive, he gave a lot of great answers. He had a lot of good perspective, and it’s great to see him playing great golf again because this is a generationally great player who’s taken a bit of a dip over the past couple of years.”
What was strange about Jon Rahm’s week at Aronimink
Of course, Rahm’s performance was particularly impressive given the amount of noise surrounding LIV Golf right now.
There is a large question mark hanging over LIV and what the future holds beyond this year.
However, while Bryson DeChambeau‘s form has dipped with two major missed cuts in a row, Rahm has proved a real point with his performance at Aronimink.
And Rex Hoggard suggested that he has been so surprised by how Rahm has managed to bounce back from the news concerning LIV.
“I do think it is fascinating to me, you look at where he is right now in his career, and it’s been pretty clear that when the news came out last month, that the Public Investment Fund was pulling away from LIV Golf at the end of this year, it is just limbo. It’s chaos. It’s uncertainty. And most golfers don’t like that. But in a weird way, Jon Rahm has actually been freed up by it,” he said.
“He spoke about this last week in Virginia at the LIV event when he was asked about the contract, and he’s like, ‘it seems like it’s a pretty lock-solid contract. I don’t know anything about contracts, but that one seems locked. I don’t know, man, it seems like my plight is pretty clear over the next three or four years’. In a weird way, I feel like that freed him up.
“I do think it’s interesting he talked at The Masters and he did not play well at Augusta National. This is his best finish at a major since joining LIV Golf. This is the first time he’s truly contended in my mind at a major championship since he joined LIV Golf in December 2023.”
Hoggard’s comments are slightly harsh considering that Rahm was tied for the lead during Sunday’s final round at the 2025 PGA Championship.
But it is incredibly difficult to make the case that he was right to join LIV when he had not registered a top five in a major before this past week.
Rahm had a case to be considered the best player in the world when he made the jump more than two years ago.
Perhaps the PGA Championship was a sign that he is finally about to return to that level.