US Open: Jon Rahm using wins as motivation in bid for maiden major
"Having done it in two tough tests like the Memorial [Tournament] and the BMW [Championship], I'm excited to start just because I know I can do it"
By Ali Stafford
Last Updated: 15/09/20 4:50pm
Jon Rahm believes his two victories on the PGA Tour last season have set him in good stead to challenge for a maiden major title at the US Open.
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The world No 2 followed up his win at the Memorial Tournament with a play-off victory over Dustin Johnson at the BMW Championship, with the two titles coming on arguably the two hardest-scoring golf courses on the PGA Tour since its resumption in June.
Rahm will face another tough test this week at Winged Foot, where the winning score was five-over-par when the US Open was last held there in 2006, with the Spaniard looking to use his recent successes as motivation to claim a major breakthrough.
"I would say in the past maybe this type of golf wasn't my bread and butter, but again, based on the two events I've won this year, I'm pretty much ready," Rahm said. "I've been able to dial it back when I needed to and I've been able to play it properly when I needed to.
"I think I've always thought US Open is the type of golf course I can win on. I know my game can win on any golf course, but when you're playing good, again, it becomes a mental challenge, so I welcome those.
"I'm not going to lie to say this; there's always something extra special to be possibly the first Spanish player to win a US Open. That would be amazing. So it's a bit of an extra motivation there to play good this week and do what I have to do.
"Besides having a strategy, it's playing good golf. It's sort of like in boxing where Mike Tyson said everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face. It's the same thing here. We all have a plan, but if you hit it sideways, you have got to figure it out."
Rahm moved top of the world rankings for the first time with his three-shot victory at Muirfield Village in July, before producing a final-day comeback to snatch the second FedExCup play-off at Olympia Fields last month.
"It's going to give me confidence knowing that I can get it done," Rahm said. "I think it's going to be a little bit different just because this golf course plays a little bit longer, but still you just need to play solid shots.
"And at the end of the day, there's going to be a lot of people playing really good golf. It just comes to mental strength, right, who can endure the most and who can endure until the end. It's that simple.
"Having done it in two tough tests like the Memorial and the BMW, I'm excited to start just because I know I can do it. Hopefully I don't need to do a comeback like I did in Chicago, but if it may be, I know I can do it."
Who will win the US Open? Watch the second men's major of the year, throughout the week, live on Sky Sports. Live coverage begins on Thursday from 12.30pm on Sky Sports Golf.
