By Ed Osmond
HOYLAKE, England (Reuters) – Becoming the first Spaniard to win the British Open since Seve Ballesteros in 1988 would be a great honour, Jon Rahm said on Tuesday ahead of this week’s tournament at Hoylake.
Ballesteros, who lifted the Claret Jug three times, died of brain cancer in 2011 at the age of 54 but his influence lives on and an emotional Rahm won the Masters in April on the day that would have been his compatriot’s 66th birthday.
With two major titles to his name, the world number three is among the favourites at Royal Liverpool.
“To be the first one to win an Open since Seve for Spain would be quite special,” Rahm told reporters.
“It would be obviously an incredible feeling. It’s amazing to me that some of the great golfers we’ve had haven’t been able to do it, and they’ve been close. It would be a true honour to get there.”
Spaniards Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia are both major champions but have never won the British Open and Rahm, 28, has only finished in the top 10 once in six appearances at the tournament, tied third at Royal St George’s in 2021.
He could draw inspiration from compatriot Carlos Alcaraz who claimed his first Wimbledon tennis title on Sunday by beating Novak Djokovic in an epic final.
“I think when you have the right people to look up to, it’s a little bit easier to get to that,” Rahm said. “Rafa (Nadal) obviously had a few major tennis champions to look up to when he was coming up and he did what he did, so it’s obvious for Carlos to grow up watching Rafa do what he did.”
Rahm said seeing compatriots enjoy success on the global sporting stage was a strong motivating factor.
“Not that it’s easier, but it makes you want to be the next — obviously when you’re talking about football, there’s a massive list of great football players that we’ve had in Spain, so that’s obviously part of the culture. When it comes to golf, we’ve had incredible reference,” he said.
“I think a lot of it is thanks to people like Seve and other athletes that did it before us. We are proud people.”
(Reporting by Ed Osmond, editing by Christian Radnedge)
