Jon Rahm “confident” in LIV Golfer winning The Masters, prevailing at Augusta National

Defending Masters champion Jon Rahm is confident one of the 13 LIV golfers competing this year will win at Augusta National.

“LIV has quite a few major champions, and we have some golfers who have major champion caliber,” Rahm said ahead of this week’s LIV golf event in Miami.

“So if you think about it mathematically, the pure numbers alone are not going to be the best numbers, but I’m confident that one of us can do it this year.”

A year ago, Rahm, then a member of the PGA Tour, won his first green jacket by fending off LIV Golf’s Brooks Koepka in the final round of the Masters. But since then, Rahm has joined LIV Golf, increasing the chances that current LIV players will win this Augusta.

Other LIV golfers taking to the field next week include past champions Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Patrick Reed, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia and Charl Schwartzel. Six other players besides Rahm will also compete at Augusta National thanks to their current world rankings and recent major championship wins. There is also the possibility that he will receive a special invitation from the club, as was the case with Joaquín Niemann.

“It’s going to be a battle because there’s great golf being played here and there’s great golf being played on other tours, but at the end of the day, it’s about the individual,” Watson said.

“So we’re going to support our friends wherever they’re playing, but it’s going to be a battle and hopefully the opponent is an LIV player because I’m one of the players at the top. , and hopefully I’ll be among them.” It’s either the top five or a shot on Sunday. ”

Watson and Mickelson have not yet been to Augusta National, but are expected to arrive Sunday night after the final round of the LIV Golf event in Miami.

Meanwhile, Rahm visited the club last week and played the course with the members along with a friend. The Spaniard also mentioned how he has worked through many of his emotions and said he will be ready come tournament week.

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

But around this time a year ago, Rahm arrived at Augusta having already won three times on the PGA Tour. He has yet to win his LIV Golf event and his most recent win as a professional was last year’s Masters.

“I feel like I’ve been playing really good golf this year, but I’m not over the victory hurdle yet,” Rahm said.

“I’m confident right now, and I’m as confident in my game as I am almost any day of the year. I think every competitor should be that way. But this… , that’s the difference in how I’ve played over the last few months.” “I’m comfortable. If anything, I’m a little bit fresher for the next few weeks, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Thanks to LIV Golf’s schedule, Rahm played 17 fewer competitive rounds this year than last year. He has three top-10 finishes, most recently finishing 14th in Hong Kong.

It remains to be seen whether cutting back on golf will help him further, but either way, Rahm, and many other LIV players, will arrive at Georgia as confident as ever.

Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.