Junior Jon Rahm watches to see if his putt will find the whole during the ASU Thunderbird Invitational on April 7, 2013. (Photo by Murphy Bannerman)Jon Rahm conquered the world with a record-breaking performance two weeks ago in Japan.
What about the Pac-12?
The ASU junior shot 23-under par over four days in Japan to break a record set by golf legend Jack Nicklaus at World Amateur Tournament.
Rahm became very emotional after he was told he had broken the record saying and almost cried.
“Honestly, Jack Nicklaus is a hero,” Rahm said. “Basically him and Tiger (Woods) I consider the best golfers ever to play. So beating his record kind of made me think, am I going to be the next one?”
Along with helping Rahm grow as a player, his performance in Japan will have a positive impact on the ASU program, coach Tim Mickelson said.
“I think any time you have a player perform at a high level and win a prestigious event such as the World-Am it brings, obviously, notoriety to our program and what we’re doing with our players,” Mickelson said. “It allows them to get better and help them get better.”
The Sun Devils will be looking to Rahm this season as they try to make the NCAA tournament after missing the cut last year.
Despite calling his performance in Japan the best in his career, Rahm is confident he can build on his play and improve going into the season.
“(My goal is to) make every tournament my best performance ever,” Rahm said. “Obviously, right now my expectations are high, so I would say the way to keep it that way is to not think about it and work as hard as I have been every day, try to keep winning.”
The first tournament en route to the NCAA Championships was the Itani Quality Homes Collegiate in Pullman, Washington, and Rahm had a lackluster performance, having to fight through some adverse winds on the final day.
After someone has as big of a win as Rahm had at the World Amateur, it is not overly surprising to see him fall a little short in his next competition.
“For Jon, maybe his excuse is it’s usual to have a bit of a let down after that big of a victory,” said Coach Tim Mickelson. “Just like any football team.”
Mickelson analogized Rahm's slump with the performance of Boston College's football team, which defeated USC two weeks ago, only to lose to what would appear to be an inferior team in Colorado State in their next game.
The “Super Bowl hangover” is something every athlete fights through after a major achievement, but Rahm knows all he can do now is focus on the season ahead of him.
And for Rahm and the rest of his teammates the goal every season for the Sun Devils remains the same: winning the national championship.
“Unless they make a tournament bigger than nationals, the national championship is going to be the goal,” Rahm said.
Reach the reporter at wslane@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @bill_slane
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