Why Jon Rahm uses a video game trick on the golf course

JOHANNESBURG – Tuesday’s assignment was simple: find out what Jon Rahm is indeed he thinks about his global situation. At the moment, he’s the closest thing in pro golf to Scottie Scheffler, but is he? to hear that way?

He said he feels very close to his late 2021 form, or 2022-into-2023 form, which led to the Masters win. Bettors take note. Another way to put it is not always about winning, or his ceiling, but rather about his floor, which is like Scheffler’s – higher than anyone else’s. Over the past 12 months, Rahm has finished in the top 10 in 14 of 15 LIV events — his T11 in Dallas just blemished the standard — added three top 15s and finished 2-for-2 in DP World Tour top 15s. He doesn’t have bad weeks.

So, I asked, When was the last time you had one? A real bad week?

“I’ve had some bad weeks,” he began, smiling. “I’ve just — I’ve gotten pretty good at handling what I have [those weeks].”

In other words, to lower his aggression because he can’t hit certain shots reliably. But if really done chose him – actually waited for him to highlight his last BAD week – it was May 2025, in Korea. He opened with a ho-hum 72, closed with a ho-hum 70, surprised himself with a 66 amid a putter battle and finished … tied for seventh.

He did not feel his best at the Royal Portrush Open Championship two months later, where he tied for 34th. He felt… good about the top 15 in all other majors. Proud of the way he fought. But that T7 in Korea? That was a “low, very low” week, and it was 10 months ago.

So, what does that say about your game? I asked, preparing a stock answer about conformity, which he began to live up to:

“I was proud of being consistent and playing until the end, right?” he said. “No matter what happens. I think I can probably be quoted in a lot of interviews saying that if you can finish 32nd instead of 33rd, it’s your job as a competitor – at least that’s how I see it.”

This “job” as a competitor is interesting, as a job from the commander. Not available to all professionals. Others will spend holes late in the event shooting flags for fun, mulling over their post-golf burrito, or trying out new swing ideas in action. Rahm’s competitive calling at work is, quite literally, about the Call of Work. A shoot-em-up video game.

“So it’s definitely something that’s on my mind,” he continued. “I compared it last year to all the people who know Call of Duty – especially competitive Call of Duty – to Scrap Time.”

In competitive Call of Duty, as Rahm puts it, online players work as teams to hold (and defend) a specific (but rotating) location on the game map for as long as possible while other teams try to dislodge them from that position. The claimed area moves throughout the game, but whichever team can find, hold and defend it longer than any other team wins. Those five to 10 seconds before the position changes position becomes a kind of relief from everything as players run away and others try to grab some precious seconds in the “position,” called Scrap Time.

In golf, that’s the end of a tournament, where it’s essentially a 2-, 3-, or 4-player race with a few holes left. If you’re not one of those players, it’s about what you can do in that little time left to move up the leaderboard. Slip into the top 10. Finishing 32nd out of 33rd.

“So Scrap Time does it mean … those five to 10 seconds, if they stop, are you fighting for those 10 seconds or not?” Rahm explained. “It can be the difference; it won’t be the difference. It is a strategic decision.”

Last weekend, six places away from where we discussed in South Africa, Rahm closed with two birdies in the 71st and 72nd at LIV Singapore. If he had made two pars, he would have finished in a tie for 7th. The success during Scrap Time saw him jump into fifth place alone and, in the lucrative world of LIV Golf, an additional $275,000.

As it turns out, Rahm often thinks about these things. He solved two different situations from two years ago in Singapore only where his late finish – putting once against three putting, or high and low in a penalty drop – kept him in the top 10 during Scrap Time. It is clear that this is the idea that works for him. Just don’t expect to be good during Scrap on the joysticks. Rahm says that now that he’s a father, the “good setup” he has for video games at home in Scottsdale is just gathering dust. But you still scratch that, if it counts, by watching others play Call of Duty online. And with back-dooring top 5s.