As 2024 comes to a close, SI Golf’s writers and editors reflect on the year’s craziest stories.
The year had already been a shocker for Jon Rahm.
In December 2023, the Spaniard surprised everyone by bolting to LIV Golf after reiterating his fealty to the PGA Tour for nearly two years. Then, after winning four times on Tour in 2023, including the Masters, the former world No. 1 struggled to return to the winner’s circle in 2024.
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Rahm placed T45 in his title defense at Augusta National and missed the cut at the PGA Championship before withdrawing from the U.S. Open with a left foot injury. However, he began to find his form in the summer months. He finished T7 at the British Open and followed that with his first win of the year at LIV U.K.
He had all the momentum he could carry entering the Olympics, and was riding it.
With seven holes left to play at Le Golf National in France, the two-time major champion had a four-stroke lead over Tommy Fleetwood and Hideki Matsuyama. Scottie Scheffler was six back.
Then the unthinkable happened.
He followed a front-nine 31 with a back-nine 39—not only costing him the coveted gold medal that appeared well in his grasp, but both of the other spots on the podium.
Scheffler, who shot a final-round 62 with a back-nine 29, finished four strokes ahead of Rahm for the gold at 19 under. Fleetwood, of England, took home silver at 18 under and Japan’s Matsuyama claimed the bronze at 17 under. Rahm finished T5.
“I not only feel like I let myself down but to just not get it done for the whole country of Spain, it’s a lot more painful than I would like it to be,” Rahm said.
In his PGA Tour career, Rahm held a 54-hole lead or co-lead 10 times and converted half of those (and may have had one more if he wasn’t forced to withdraw from the 2021 Memorial with COVID-19).
The Olympics, though, may be the hardest pill to swallow out of all the events in which he failed to get the job done.
Bob Harig: The shocking fall off and Rahm’s reaction afterward was a strong indication of how much the Olympic golf meant to him and another sign of the importance of the event in the overall picture. On the same venue where he beat Tiger Woods in a Ryder Cup singles match—under intense pressure, before he became well, Jon Rahm—the moment was too much and came at a time when he had turned his game around.
Jeff Ritter: This was the summer we learned that Olympic golf is here to stay, because it so clearly matters to the participants.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Golf’s Most Shocking Stories of 2024: Jon Rahm Crashes Off Olympic Podium.
