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Jon Rahm is no longer the best golfer in the world without a major championship. On June 20, 2021, Rahm won the U.S. Open, shooting six-under-par in four rounds at Torrey Pines in San Diego, California.

Rahm winning the U.S. Open Trophy on the day he did made for a perfect first Father’s Day gift for the man who became a dad for the first time in April 2021. So when Rahm joined the Dan Patrick Show this week, he talked about the win, the trophy, his son Kepa, and how he tried to see if his then-2-month-old baby would fit in his new prized possession.

Jon Rahm lost the title of ‘best player who hasn’t won a major’ at Torrey Pines

Rahm joined Patrick for a wide-ranging interview that revolved around his 2021 U.S. Open win.

The Scottsdale, Arizona resident is currently No. 1 in the world, according to the Official World Golf Rankings. Prior to his four rounds at Torrey Pines, Rahm won 12 professional tournaments. He also racked up six second-place finishes, six third-place finishes, and 51 top 10s, per the PGA Tour.

Despite the success, he told Patrick he got “put on that ‘best player to never win a major’ list very, very quick. He called getting off that list in San Diego “a relief.”   

Now, the major-less debate shifts to several other golfers. Xander Schauffele ranks No. 5 in the world and is yet to win one of the four big ones. Joining him major-less in the top 20 are Patrick Cantlay (No. 9), Tyrrell Hatton (No. 11), Harris English (No. 12), Viktor Hovland (No. 14), Daniel Berger (No. 16), Tony Finau (No. 17), and Scottie Scheffler (No. 19).

Dan Patrick asked Rahm all about the U.S. Open Trophy 

“Jon, we want to play a game,” radio host Patrick said to open his interview with the major champion. “Where is the U.S. Open Trophy?”

Patrick and his sidekicks went around the room and guessed where the Rahms’ are keeping the championship hardware. The guesses ranged from in his “Man Cave” to still in the box. Following the predictions, Rahm reported that the trophy is on a mantle in his living room where “it’s the first thing you see when you walk in the house.”

After discovering the trophy’s whereabouts, Patrick asked the all-important question:

Dan Patrick: Would the baby fit in the trophy? If you wanted to bathe the baby?  

Jon Rahm: I tried, he does not fit. He’s too old. He’s too big! I think if it’s a newborn, he would fit. The top of the trophy screws on. It’s got these two little things that come out and could actually hurt the baby a little bit, so I didn’t try for too long.

Patrick continued with this line of questioning, asking if the native Spaniard took a drink from the trophy. Rahm coyly only replied, “yes. When pushed as to what he drank from the cup, Rahm answered cheekily, “Orange juice. That’s what I’ll say in public.”

A Twitter video of Jon Rahm drinking from the trophy during a raucous celebration went viral, and, from the looks of things, it either isn’t orange juice at all, or there’s another beverage mixed in with the wholesome breakfast drink.  

Rahm’s not the first athlete to get wild with a trophy

Major trophies in golf reside with one player for a calendar year, so there’s only so much debauchery these trophies likely see. On the other hand, the Stanley Cup crisscrosses the globe in the NHL offseason and is known for being at the center of many rockin’ good times.

The NBA’s Larry O’Brien trophy has a basketball on top, so players can’t drink out of it. The craziest moment captured with this trophy is the snap of Dallas Mavericks governor Mark Cuban clutching it while using a urinal in a club during the post-2011 championship celebration.

Major league Baseball’s Commissioner’s Trophy is pretty pointy, so hopefully, no one ever tried to put a baby in it. There aren’t many well-known debaucherous stories about this hardware. However, it did get disrespected last year by the man who holds the office it’s named after. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred called the trophy just “a piece of metal” when discussing the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal in 2020.

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Staff Writer, Producer - NFL

Tim Crean

Tim Crean started writing about sports in 2016 and joined Sportscasting in 2021. He excels with his versatile coverage of the NFL and soccer landscape, as well as his expertise breaking down sports media, which stems from his many years downloading podcasts before they were even cool and countless hours spent listening to Mike & The Mad Dog and The Dan Patrick Show, among other programs.

As a longtime self-professed sports junkie who even played DII lacrosse at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, Tim loves reading about all the latest sports news every day and considers it a dream to write about sports professionally. He’s a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan from Western New York who mistakenly thought, back in the early ’90s, that his team would be in the Super Bowl every year. He started following European soccer — with a Manchester City focus — in the early 2000s after spending far too much time playing FIFA.

When he’s not enjoying a round of golf or coaching youth soccer and flag football, Tim likes reading the work of Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Chuck Klosterman, and Tom Wolfe.