Rahm raring to go at Olympia

Writing from Olympia Fields, Illinois

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

Three years ago, Jon Rahm made the most insane putt in the history of Olympia Fields Country Club – Jerry Barber included – to win the BMW Championship. It was a 66-foot, 4-inch thrill ride coursing from the back left of the North Course’s 18th green to the front right, a drop of about five feet with about 18 feet of break.

On a green stimping at about 13 feet, it rolled and dipped and turned and scooted and rolled some more and finally fell into the cup.

To silence, except for the reaction of Rahm, his caddie, and a handful of officials who were spectators to the amazing scene.

Remember COVID-19 and the absence of spectators anywhere for most of a year?

“It would have been my No. 1 moment in golf with a gallery reacting,” Rahm said Tuesday morning. “It was a bit lackluster without. There was no reaction except mine. But it’s still definitely top three.”

While Rahm didn’t mention them, the others are undoubtedly winning the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines and the Masters. Those stick in your head. So does the 2019 BMW for all the reverse reasons: The solitude of playing golf at a country club with fewer people than would be at Olympia, a beehive of activity, on a normal day. The need for masks indoors, COVID tests again and again, and all the other things that turned the world, golf included, inside down until the vaccines arrived.

This year will be different. Even Tuesday morning, for the first practice sessions for the 120th playing of the Western Golf Association’s signature pro championship – the Western Open retitled and this year, with 50 players, fewer than have played in it since 47 started at Interlachen in Minneapolis in 1914 – there were galleries galore on the spacious and perfectly-manicured grounds.

Olympia Fields is alive this week as it hasn’t been since the 2003 U.S. Open. Millions have been spent to build luxury suites for the swells who will attend across six days, including a three-story behemoth that is said to have generated more revenue than all the 2003 U.S. Open hospitality areas. Millions of that revenue will be earned for the benefit of the Evans Scholars Foundation, the caddies-to-college venture proposed by Chick Evans a century ago and which saw its first two scholars enter Northwestern in 1930.Twenty million will be spread among the two score and 10 players who will compete for four days beginning Thursday.

And Rahm, the leader in the PGA Tour’s race to the pot of gold to be awarded next week at East Lake, is in excellent form. As is Olympia, though soaked after about 1.7 inches of rain during Monday’s downpour. That’s contrast to 2020, when dry conditions allowed for firm and fast fairways and greens. Thanks to uncut rough, it was more of a U.S. Open setup than the USGA provided for most of the 2023 Open. With no more rain expected, this will start with dart-throwing and go from there.

“It’ll play a lot different,” Rahm said. “I’d played two amateur events here before 2020, the U.S. Amateur that Bryson (DeChambeau) won and the (Fighting Illini) college tournament, and it’s always been a favorite of mine. Every player I’ve talked to says it’s a golf course they’ve enjoyed. It’s a great layout, a great test, especially the last time getting to see is basically as a U.S. Open setup. We don’t usually get this time of year, events where 4-under goes into a playoff. That was unbelievable to see.”

As will this week be.

Around Olympia Fields

Late Tuesday afternoon, the Western Golf Association announced the 2027 BMW would be played at Liberty National Golf Club, across New York Harbor from Manhattan Island. That means the earliest return to Chicago for what once was Chicago's annual PGA Tour stop is 2028. Next year's edition is at Castle Pines in Colorado, the 2025 affair is at Caves Valley in Owings Mills, Md., and 2026 is at Bellerive Country Club outside of St. Louis. There was a time when the WGA said the BMW would be played in the Chicago area every other year. ... Wednesday’s pro-am features 24 teams and 48 of the 50 pros in the field. Pros play nine holes. Notables going off No. 1 include Scottie Scheffler (8 a.m.), Lucas Glover (8:12 a.m.), Rahm (10:12 a.m.), Justin Rose (12:17 p.m.) and John Deere Classic winner Sepp Straka (12:42 p.m.). Stars playing the back nine and starting on No. 10 include Rory McIlroy (8 a.m.), Jason Day (9 a.m.), Xander Schauffele (9:12 a.m.), Jordan Spieth (9:24 a.m.), 2007 Fighting Illini Invitational winner Rickie Fowler (9:36 a.m.), Brian Harman (9:48 a.m.), two-time defending BMW champion Patrick Cantlay (10:12 a.m.), and J.T. Poston (11:27 a.m.). … With only 50 players, all play is off the first tee beginning Thursday at 8:26 a.m., when Poston and Brandon Todd start it off. Rahm and Scheffler are paired at 12:38 p.m. … Golf Channel coverage begins at 1 p.m. Thursday and Friday, but the ESPN Plus PGA Tour Live feeds begin at 8:15 a.m., prior to the first group teeing off. CBS handles the weekend afternoon duties.

– Tim Cronin