Jon Rahm plays alongside Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele for the first two rounds at The Masters, just days after becoming a father for the first time. Watch throughout the week live on Sky Sports The Masters
Wednesday 7 April 2021 21:56, UK
Jon Rahm says he has no concerns about his lack of pre-tournament preparation for The Masters after making a last-minute arrival at Augusta National.
Rahm and his wife Kelley welcomed their first child, a boy named Kepa, on Saturday, with the world No 3 spending the opening days of fatherhood at home before heading to Augusta late on Tuesday.
The Spaniard only arrived on-site on Wednesday morning and will undergo limited practice ahead of the opening men's major of the year, although Rahm insists he still is ready to challenge for a maiden major victory.
"Thursday to Monday didn't sleep much, didn't hit a single golf shot," Rahm said. "Maybe haven't prepared as much as I have in the past, but definitely mentally in a different state.
"A lot of times practising for a major you spend so much time thinking about golf and for four or five days, it wasn't even on my mind, which is kind of refreshing.
"Coming here later than usual, but I'm here ready to compete. I wouldn't be here otherwise."
Rahm previously warned golf fans not to back him to make his major breakthrough this week, due to the possibility of having to leave mid-tournament for the birth, with the 26-year-old admitting he had not expected to feature until his child's early arrival.
"For so long I didn't think I was going to be able to be here," Rahm added. "I thought Wednesday, Thursday, Friday I was just going to have to get the ticket back home.
"I'm happy that she [Kelley] is healthy. I'm happy that he [Kepa] is healthy. I'm grateful that they're both doing great and I'm really happy I can be here rested and ready to compete.
"I haven't been here since November. I mean, the course hasn't changed. I might need to spend a little bit of extra time hitting lag putts and hitting some chips because the last time we played here it was a little softer and slower, but tee to green it doesn't really change much."
Rahm also explained the reasoning behind calling his son Kepa Cahill Rahm and was quick to quash any social media suggestion that there may have been a Chelsea preference behind the name selection.
"I do think a lot of people believe I'm a Chelsea fan now," Rahm admitted. "The name Kepa is Basque. It's where I'm from in the Basque country and when we were going through Basque names, because she agreed to honour my heritage that way, we just had to find one that she could pronounce.
"That's the one we came up with that she really liked and we used Cahill as the middle name because in Spanish tradition usually you take over your dad's last name and your mum's last name. I didn't want her to lose that, so that's why we made his middle name her last name, and that's what it is."
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