Jon Rahm's second round at LIV Golf Adelaide delivered the kind of number he has made look almost routine on the Greg Norman-led circuit: a bogey-free 63, one off the course record held by the tournament field. The Spaniard was in a generous mood when he dissected the round for reporters, crediting the putter and the conditions almost in the same breath.
"Very good round of golf," Rahm said. "Um overall with less wind today and the fairways being a little bit firmer course was uh was easier. I think the course reflected it. Saw saw a lot of low rounds out there."
Rahm's short-game performance was what gave his number its gloss.
"I puted extremely well today. Made a lot of fetal putts," Rahm said. "I can't remember the last time I made this many, but it was a lot. And the ones that didn't go in looked like they were gonna go in, right? So, it was um fantastic day on the greens and that's that's the biggest takeaway from today."
As ever at the Grange Golf Club, the conversation didn't stay on the scorecard for long. Rahm — who previously described Adelaide as one of LIV Golf's best atmospheres — warned spectators they were about to get the full weekend treatment.
"It's always fun to play in front of this crowd," Rahm said. "Uh tomorrow, I'm assuming will be the big day being a Saturday. Uh a little bit of a later tea time, right? It's easier to prep for for the crowd to be here on time. It's also more time to drink, so be a little bit louder, a little hotter, too. So, you know, I think you're going to get there even quicker. So, it's going to be a really fun atmosphere. I'm really looking forward to it. I think um this event is fantastic. Uh it's it's one that we all look forward to. It's it's a little bit sad that it's this early on the season and and we're going to have to wait a whole year to come back to Adelaide, but it's it's such a good such a good venue and such a good crowd that make it one of the more fun events fun events we play all year."
The detail of the week, though, belonged to Legion XIII's internal walk-up song game. Rahm explained that the quartet had, for the second year running, handed song selection to each other rather than picking for themselves — a system he and co-captain Tyrrell Hatton have used to troll teammate Caleb Surratt without mercy.
"For anybody that's confused right now, uh we did it last year in Indie and we're doing it this week again where instead of ourselves picking our walk up songs, the team picks for you and you have no idea what's coming," Rahm said. "Uh there's some themes that go with it, but it it's me and Tero picking basically. That's Caleb and Tom do not want to be a part of picking for some reason. But it's a lot of fun for both of us. And uh hopefully you like it. That's all I can say. I think I have Mariah Carey always being my baby. I love that song. So it's not really, you know, I like it. It's fun. It's uh I think Caleb gets the harder ones just because he's so musically at least he listens to mostly country. So we're trying to go as far away as possible from from things like that. So he had to hit it while Baby Shark was going on yesterday. He had Crazy Frog today. Uh it's just fun because we know it upsets him so much. The other three of us don't really care, but uh I just think it's a little bit of fun to have with with something like that."
"For about cuz I've been a pro nearly 10 years," Rahm said. "The first five years I had a trail mixback like that that my wife used to make. Then I went to sandwiches and now I'm getting to a point where I need diversity. I've had too much of the same thing for too long. So now I can mix it a little bit and it's and it's fun. But I'm still looking up for something that I'm going to enjoy on the golf course cuz you know a ham cheese, lettuce, tomato sandwich gets old fast. So after 5 years I'm I'm I'm over it for sure."
And for those still asking whether LIV's calendar could allow a Rahm start at an Australian Open of his own making, the 2023 Masters champion gave a short, specific answer.
"Oh, 100%," Rahm said. "If if next week it was an Australian Open, I believe it's Kingston Heath this year, it would be a no-brainer. I would stay. No, we're already here, so why not?"
Rahm, Legion XIII and a boisterous Adelaide crowd got exactly what they wanted on Friday. A bogey-free 63, a prank soundtrack ticking along in the background, and a leader who kept hinting — not very subtly — that he was ready for Saturday's tee times to roll around.