By any player’s standards, Jon Rahm has had a year to remember.
It began with victory in January’s Sentry Tournament of Champions before further wins followed at The American Express, Genesis Invitational and, most notably, The Masters. He has also had two spells as World No.1, while he was instrumental in Team Europe’s Ryder Cup win at Marco Simone.
Not surprisingly, big paydays have followed, with Rahm finishing second on the PGA Tour’s money list for the 2022/23 season with over $16.5m. However, it could have been even better for the Spaniard, with his putting apparently costing him $2.5m in 2023.
Rahm's putting average was excellent in 2022/23. He finished sixth on 1.711 in the season compared 121st and 1.768 the season before.
However, he finished the 2022/23 PGA Tour season just 37th on the SG: Putting table with an average of 0.336 compared to 0.367 the season before. He also racked up 37 3-putts out of 1,278 holes in the season just finished - 2.9% and worse than the Tour average 2.78%.
With clear room for improvement, he recently turned to the Odyssey Ai-One putter. It incorporates Artificial Intelligence into its design, and it appears the selling point was the number of 3-putts he’d had – and the prize money he could have won with a putter that helped reduce the figure.
Per GOLF.com, Odyssey’s general manager and head of global tours, Jacob Davidson, explained how the money Rahm could have won with the putter convinced him to use it. He said: “We were able to determine his 3-putts cost him $2.5m this season. When we told him that, he perked up a little. These guys like money and they’re competitive. We knew when we showed him that slide, it was going to set him off. It was a ticking time bomb.”
Rahm soon had the Ai-One Rossie S putter in his bag, and used it at the Ryder Cup. During the biennial match against the US, his putting was a highlight throughout, with a crucial effort in the Sunday singles encounter against Scottie Scheffler proving particularly memorable.
On the 18th, Rahm needed a birdie to halve the match. The problem? An eagle putt from all of 90 feet. In the end, Rahm rolled it to a matter of inches from the hole and the rest is history.
At a launch event for the Ai-One range in Dallas, Rahm credited the variable face technology of his new putter for that effort. That tech allows for maximum forgiveness and consistency of speed and roll when a putt hasn't been struck out of the middle. Rahm said: “I can confidently say, I heeled that putt on eighteen against Scottie Scheffler and it found its way down to about six inches.”
Specifically, the AI technology has been used to pinpoint how and where golfers were missing the sweet spot on a putter, and what happened when they did, which the Ai-One seeks to address. When a player misses that sweet spot, they can easily 3-putt, and Callaway say Rahm would have gone from an overall 23rd to 10th in SG: Putting last year had he been using the putter.
Rahm also explained the look of the putter also helped. He said: “For me changing is a big deal, but I was given the same head design in the Rossie and I just loved how it looked, I really found that the contrast between the head and the face, helped me square the face up a little quicker through impact.”
Even though it’s early days, the signs are encouraging that the putter could be the answer to Rahm taking his game – and prize money - to an even higher level than we’ve witnessed in recent months.
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