‘A trophy is a trophy’: Jon Rahm on LIV, Augusta and Seve Ballesteros

The Masters champion has gone from critic of LIV Golf's format to its pin-up boy. He talks about perception and the future

Jon Rahm roars with laughter. I gotta be careful here. I don't want to create a headline." Of the unwanted sort, he means. Rahm has featured on billboards for years. The question should be simple enough. Who, in his mind, is currently the best male golfer in the world? Yet Rahm, the reigning Masters champion, is aware it opens the gargantuan can of worms created by the departure of him and others to LIV Golf. The rebel circuit's failure to gain official world golf ranking recognition adds a layer of complexity that Rahm has been vociferous about in the past. This time, he composes himself and gives a perfectly sensible answer.

Let me say it this way; I think I can compete with anybody at any given time," says Rahm. I am going to leave it at that. I think at my best I can take on anybody. But that's what everybody should be thinking. I think Rory [McIlroy] would tell you the same thing, or Dustin [Johnson], or Scottie [Scheffler]."