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World number one Rahm has already won four
times on the PGA Tour this season and a win at Vidanta Vallarta
this week would make him the first player to win five times in a
season since Justin Thomas accomplished the feat in 2017.
"Obviously I would love for this to be something I'm doing in
Spain right now this close to the Masters, but this is the next
closest thing," Rahm told reporters on Wednesday.
"The Mexican crowd, the Mexican people have all accepted me not
as one of their own but like you just mentioned as an Hispanic
playing golf as the champion at the Masters, they've taken me in
very, very well."
Rahm has made six prior starts as the defending champion on the
PGA Tour and his best result in those title defenses came at La
Quinta in 2019 when he finished in sixth place.
At last year's Mexico Open, Rahm pulled out of a four-way tie
during the final round with a 12-foot birdie putt on the 14th
hole and held on for a one-shot victory over Tony Finau, Brandon
Wu and Kurt Kitayama.
"To be able to come here and go wire to wire, take the lead on
Thursday and never give it up and never really be trailing from
that point on was big," said Rahm.
"To get it done in any Spanish-speaking country makes it a lot
more special, there's always a little bit of extra pressure,
extra motivation for me to want to win."
In 11 PGA Tour events this season, Rahm has four wins, seven
top-10 finishes and zero missed cuts.
Rahm has not had much downtime since the Masters as he teed it
up the following week at Hilton Head Island in South Carolina
where he finished in a share of 15th place but feels good about
the state of his game nonetheless.
"Playing Hilton Head helped getting in a competitive mode right
afterwards. I think in a weird sense it did help, so I'm glad I
went. It was a lot of fun, played good golf," said Rahm.
"Feeling good with the game where it's at right now."
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Toby Davis)
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