Jon Rahm thought meeting Tiger Woods would be a turning point.
It wasn’t.
“I think there’s only one man in this field that hears advice from Tiger because I’ve asked before and I get nothing,” Rahm admitted, half-laughing, half-deflated.
And that just about sums up their dynamic.
You’d think if anyone could extract some legendary wisdom from Tiger Woods, it would be Jon Rahm. Major champion. World No. 1. Childhood fan. But the truth? Tiger’s playbook stays closed — unless your name is Justin Thomas.
Let’s unpack this wonderfully awkward golf relationship.
A One-Sided Conversation
Rahm has made no secret of his efforts to pull advice from Tiger — only to get swatted away with fortune-cookie-level quips.
Before the 2017 Tour Championship, Rahm approached Woods for a little guidance on Bermuda grass greens. Tiger’s sage wisdom?
“It’s all about feel.”
That’s it. No tip. No follow-up. Just a shrug of a sentence and Tiger kept walking. Rahm, likely blinking in disbelief, later said, “Cool. Thank you.”
Later, at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, Rahm tried again. This time he asked about chipping into the grain.
Tiger’s answer? “You just got to be shallow.”
Two swings. Two sentences. Zero depth.
“Meanwhile, J.T.’s Getting a Full Dissertation…”
This might be the part that stings most for Jon Rahm.
While he’s chasing crumbs of advice, Justin Thomas is over there getting gourmet guidance. Rahm even joked about it publicly: “I turn around and J.T.’s there with him, and he’s getting a whole dissertation.”
Why the favoritism?
Tiger and JT go way back. Woods has called Thomas “like my younger brother and Charlie’s older brother.” That’s family. And family, apparently, gets the full Tiger Woods golf bible.
Rahm? He gets “be shallow.”
The 2018 Ryder Cup: Opponents, Not Teammates
If there was ever a moment when the stars aligned for a true team bond, it was the 2018 Ryder Cup.
But Tiger and Rahm weren’t allies — they were opponents.
And what a showdown it was. Rahm had to mentally steel himself for one of the biggest rounds of his life — Sunday singles against the man whose posters likely hung on his childhood bedroom wall.
He didn’t hear from Tiger before the match.
Instead, Rahm leaned on his mental coach and captain Thomas Bjørn. He later revealed that he’d spent over 12 hours mentally preparing to take on Woods.
And it worked.
Rahm won 2&1.
The Words That Finally Came
After the dust settled and Rahm beat his idol, Tiger finally spoke.
“Man, don’t even worry. You played great.”
Seven words. That’s all it took to break Rahm. He cried.
“I started crying in front of Tiger,” Rahm said. “It was such an emotional moment. I saw him win a great deal of events, grew up with a dream of someday beating him, and to do it on the Sunday of a Ryder Cup — it was extremely special.”
So, no, Tiger didn’t offer a secret putting drill or mental trick to calm Ryder Cup nerves. But in that moment — in defeat — he gave Rahm something more powerful: validation.
One Small Gem (Finally)
Interestingly, Rahm did eventually get one nugget of wisdom from Woods. It just didn’t come before a team event.
In 2023, while holding the World No. 1 ranking, Rahm asked Tiger how to keep playing at a high level.
Tiger’s answer?
Out of his 82 PGA Tour wins, he only played his best golf for all four days in “three at most.”
That hit Rahm hard — in a good way. It reminded him that perfection wasn’t the goal. You just had to find a way to win, even when things weren’t perfect.
For a player like Rahm, known for chasing peak performance, that advice actually stuck.
Then Came LIV — and Radio Silence
When Rahm signed with LIV Golf in December 2023, he tried to do the right thing. He texted Woods, letting him know it wasn’t personal.
He got no response.
Woods hasn’t replied to him since.
It’s the coldest shoulder in golf — and Rahm knows it.
But maybe that’s just how it’s always been. Tiger picks his people. And Rahm, despite all the titles, never made that list.
Still, if beating Tiger at the Ryder Cup, crying in front of him, and holding his words close years later means anything — the relationship’s more complicated than just silence.
“Man, don’t even worry. You played great.” — Tiger Woods to Jon Rahm, 2018 Ryder Cup