Jon Rahm might not be superstitious, but he is a little 'stitious.
Athletes have a tendency of being a bit superstitious, and that manifests in a few different ways. Not washing certain articles of clothing, sticking in the same routines and believing in the ever-powerful jinx are some of the adopted ideologies.
Jon Rahm was almost on the business end of a jinx, courtesy of longtime NFL tight end and current Cardinals pass-catcher Zach Ertz. Prior to the start of the tournament, Rahm received a text from Ertz, which may have led to a poor showing on his first hole of the tournament.
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Rahm explained the near jinx on Sunday after donning the green jacket:
Rahm's explanation:
For those people who believe in jinxing other players, people and whatever it may be: Thursday morning when I was getting on the golf cart to get to this putting green 10 minutes before my tee time, I saw a text from a good friend of mine — and I'm going to name him, because he's a Super Bowl-winning champion — Zach Ertz.
Scroll to Continue with ContentHe sent a text — I'm gonna paraphrase here, but it said: 'That first green, looking like a walk in the park' or something like that right now … 10 minutes before I four-putted to start the tournament.
So, thank you, Zach. Don't ever do that again, please.
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Rahm's double bogey on the first hole was the only double bogey of the tournament for him. He did make up the deficit with an eagle on No. 8, finishing the first round with a 65 (-7). Rahm outlasted LIV Golf's Brooks Koepka in Rounds 3 and 4 en route to his first green jacket.
It's unclear how the friendship between the major-winning golfer and the former All-Pro tight end started, but maybe "Rahmbo" is looking at this all wrong. Ertz didn't jinx him, the text was a bit of good luck. Ertz should text him before every tournament from now on.
The tight end seems to have the same idea:
Maybe Rahm should text Ertz before every Cardinals game in 2023, just to level the playing field.