'I'm the furthest thing from technical there possibly is'

Jon Rahm reveals how feel, natural instinct and a competitive nature have contributed to his significant early success on tour

- Jeremy Ellwood

It would be fair to say that 2019 was a very good year for Jon Rahm Rodriguez.

Apart from a maiden Major, there was little else he didn’t achieve as his meteoric rise towards the very pinnacle of the game continued apace. The 25-year-old Spaniard won once on the PGA Tour and three times in Europe (two Rolex Series events and a successful defence of his national Open), claimed the Race to Dubai title in style and capped it off with a December wedding to long-time girlfriend Kelley Cahill in Bilbao. Could things possibly get any better for Rahm?

I suspect the answer, almost certainly, is yes. Golf is forever throwing up ‘next big things’ who seem destined for eternal greatness, yet things don’t always pan out. For example, I still clearly remember an interview with Tony Jacklin 30-plus years ago in which he told readers that Englishman Paul Way was assured of future Major honours after his early PGA Championship and Ryder Cup heroics, but it wasn’t to be as Way stumbled and ultimately faded after those early highs.

I would be flabbergasted, though, if Rahm were to depart the golfing scene Majorless. We don’t need to go into every detail of Rahm’s resume here, but a couple of things jumped out at me as I rechecked his impressive amateur record.

The first is that he topped the World Amateur Golf Rankings for a total of 60 weeks in two separate stints during 2015 and 2016, more than any other amateur has achieved since the rankings were founded. The second is that he elected to forfeit the 2016 Open spot that topping the amateur rankings had afforded him by turning pro after the 2016 US Open at Oakmont, where he finished 23rd.