Jon Rahm Relishing Royal Portrush Return As He Eyes Open Championship Challenge

Jon Rahm fancies his chances at The Open this year thanks to his improving Major form and his affinity with Royal Portrush and Northern ireland in general

Jon Rahm takes a shot at the PGA Championship
(Image credit: Getty Images)
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Jon Rahm looks to have his Major mojo back this year, and he hopes that a liking for Royal Portrush can help push him over the edge and claim The Open Championship.

Rahm went through a dodgy spell in the Majors after joining LIV Golf, but 2025 has seen him right back in the thick of things and challenging at the sharp end.

The Spaniard finished T14 at The Masters and T7 at the US Open either side of his best performance when only a late collapse cost him the chance to win the PGA Championship - finishing T8.

Rahm finished T11 in 2019 when the Open was last played at Royal Portrush - Shane Lowry taking home the Claret Jug on that occasion.

A two-time Irish Open winner, including at neighboring Portstewart, Rahm also enjoyed Portrush playing there in the 2014 Amateur Championship - so he feels he'll have a big chance of adding a third Major at the Northern Irish links.

"I like Royal Portrush. Last Open there I did well. I played a British Am there and had nothing but a good experience," said Rahm.

"It's a fantastic golf course where, like every other Major, you have to do everything well. I've been lucky enough to play in Ireland and Northern Ireland, so I'm hoping that can carry on over into a Major championship, as well."

Crowds at Royal Portrush at the 2019 Open

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Rahm says that Portrush offers a unique twist on the usual links golf test thanks to bigger elevation changes than you normally find on most other places on the Open rota.

"It's a bit of a unique links because you don't usually have elevation changes in links golf, and it's not that it's massive, but that first hole you have anywhere between a wedge to a 7-iron with a massive upslope and massive crosswinds," Rahm explained.

"That's not something you usually see.

"The 5th hole is severely downhill, even the 7th going and up is not something you usually see. And then 16, 17, 18, with having to go over cliffs and falloffs and elevation changes, it's not something you usually get to practice in links golf.

"Usually it's perfectly flat, and there's other elements to worry about. So that's what makes Portrush to me a little bit more special."

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Paul Higham
Paul Higham
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Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website.  Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush. 

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