• Analysis Jon Rahm's Limitless Ambition: From Tokyo Gold To Nicklaus' Record

  • Opinion Jon Rahm, the latest benchmark in Spanish sport

  • Chronicle Jon Rahm wins the US Open and enters the history of Spanish sport

It's seven in the afternoon on a summer Saturday afternoon when the phone rings as agreed: 10 a.m. in Arizona.

Jon Rahm

(Barrika, Vizcaya, 1994), the first Spaniard in golf history to win the

US Open

on the 20th, is affable, euphoric.

The cries of his son

Kepa

echo on the other end of the line.

"As much as you are a

major

winner,

there are things that don't change you," he jokes.

Question.

- Have you already managed to process everything?

Answer.

- I'm at that middle point, where I don't know if I've already assimilated everything or have yet to do it.

I have taken this week off to rest my body and mind, I hope to gradually recover the mentality of training.

The truth is that I am still euphoric and sometimes without realizing it I find myself looking at the trophy or putting out fists at home as if I had just won.

If someone saw me!

Q.- It's

only been five years since your debut in the greats, precisely at the US Open, in Oakmont, when you were still an

amateur

.

Are you aware of how your life has changed in such a short time?

R.

-

On Thursday we were making a video for Callaway in the new house and I was placing all the trophies that I have as a professional, except a Spanish Open that my mistress has at home and one that has not reached me yet.

We put 11 of the 13 on a table next to the US Open trophy and just talking about Kelley [Cahill, his wife] and looking back, I realized how much things have changed.

Q.

- By the way, how does Kepa get along with the trophy?

R.

-There is a photo where I try to put him.

I don't think he's very happy, I don't know if he really liked it very much.

The best thing about Kepa is that he does not care exactly what he does, he just wants to eat, that we change him and love him and I think that all this has helped a lot in this process.

We won, but the second later, I am still a father and Kepa depends on me and requires all of our attention, and all of that is much more important than what he can do on the golf course.

Q.

-What's left of that

amateur

boy

from Oakmont?

R. -

As a person I have not changed anything, although I have matured a lot, yes.

Now as husband and father things will change little by little.

Rahm, with Kelley and her son Kepa.USA TODAY

Q. -

You have managed to be the fourth Spanish to win a tournament of this category.

I remember that Olazábal after winning his first Masters, he was a bit empty.

R.

-I have had that at times with other victories, I have even come to doubt if I have deserved to earn a bit of self-sabotage.

This time it has not happened to me, it is something that I have wanted to do for so long and as the last three weeks have passed, it is something that fills me with pride.

I remember after winning I looked at Kelley and told him that I felt that I really deserved everything that has happened in these weeks, I deserved that victory.

There are times when the feeling of triumph lasts 10 minutes and I understand José Mari, but this time it hasn't happened to me.

In fact, the euphoria still lasts for me.

Q.

-In his first Masters, Seve had a very cold celebration.

He said that he had already won it many times in his head.

R.

-Yes, I had heard it and it is a bit what has happened to me, it is not a surprise.

What I can tell you is that when I hit the first

tee

on hole 1

that Sunday I

was already confident that I could win.

I felt that something special was coming, I really felt it.

It's difficult to explain, it had never happened to me, having it so clear, knowing that this was my day, it's a bit of what happened to Seve with that Masters;

When something happens so many times in your mind, you end up believing it before it happens.

Q. - You

won in your

major

number 21, did you push yourself?

R.

-More than saying "I have to win", I thought about "I want to win", which is different.

Anyway, you know that the pressure motivates me.

I was number one in the betting for this US Open and that means that people trust you, that motivates me and helps me.

Q. - You

will have received many congratulations, but what did the King Emeritus say to you when he called you?

R. - He

simply congratulated me, nothing more, that he was very proud of what he had done and such.

I still don't have any congratulations that have given me a story to tell.

I have received many: from the Government, from Rafa Nadal, from Kelly Slater ... With the hours of difference communication is also complicated.

Rahm, with his caddy at Torrey Pines.AFP

P.

-of all that said, I loved it to recover the child kicking in Larrabea in the last two holes and

putts

decisive.

Have you ever done it before the US Open?

R.

-Don't think I was thinking about it at the time, it's just the truth.

I started playing this for the love of the sport as a child and there are times when you have to let the innocence of that child hit the ball, because that child is not aware if the

putt

is for

birdie

or to win a US Open.

It was basically throwing a

putt

with the fun of a child and it's the truth, I know it's not easy to explain, or to do, but it was like that.

Q. -

And now the British.

If one appeared to you, would you ask for it as a second win in a

major

?

R.

-Yes, without a doubt, totally, and if I could already choose, without despising this year's one, I would choose to win the British in 2022 in Saint Andrews, but tell the genius that without giving up on winning this one, eh? .

Q. -

You only have 17 grandchildren left to catch up with Jack Nicklaus ...

R.

-When I made those declarations of wanting to be the best in history and win 19

majors, I

was a child.

I intend to be the best player possible.

I have always been ambitious and I understand that not everyone has that way of thinking and I understand that they criticized me in their day, even more so when I was from Bilbao.

It doesn't bother me.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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