Smith: "Jon Rahm's 'unfairly judged' comments at The Masters are ludicrous

The Masters leaderboard after 36 holes is absolutely stacked, isn't it?

Justin Rose is blooming amid at azaleas and, at the age of 44, has mounted another quest to clinch the coveted green jacket. 

Content king Bryson DeChambeau is right where he needs to be. Rory McIlroy has bounced back after two double bogeys ruined his scorecard on Thursday.   

There are several others who will also believe they could slip on the jacket come Sunday evening. Surprise winner in Corey Conners? Sure. Tyrrell Hatton? Absolutely. 

Former open champion Shane Lowry will undoubtedly believe he has the pedigree to get the job done. Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa, Jason Day, Collin Morikawa and Ludvig Aberg are also by no means out of it. 

We also should not discount former Masters winner Hideki Matsuyama. 

And we haven't even mentioned reigning champ Scottie Scheffler. 

It absolutely promises to be a blockbuster weekend, but one big name is missing atop the leaderboard.

Jon Rahm. 

The 2023 winner hit an opening 75 on Thursday and battled hard to make the cut yesterday. 

Yet unless Rahm can go really low today it looks like it will be another forgettable major championship performance from the LIV recruit. 

Rahm jumped to LIV 18 months ago and while he has been a top 10 machine on the breakaway tour, the simple truth is that he has failed to deliver in the major championships since his big money move. 

The Spaniard was woeful in his defence 12 months ago and, at least in my view, clearly felt a tad uncomfortable about being at Augusta after making the switch to LIV.

Words fell clumsily out of his mouth at his pre-tournament news conference. Matters were made worse when he told BBC Sport he wanted LIV to change their format to 72 holes. It was all a bit odd. 

Yes, Rahm was unfortunate to miss last year's U.S. Open through injury. But he also flopped at the PGA Championship and was never really a threat at Royal Troon. 

It's not what you expect from a truly generational talent like Rahm. 

Let's not sugar coat this: not having Rahm in contention is a bit of a gut punch for golf fans. Rahm should be in the mix. The game needs him to be in the mix. 

And yet, here we are watching tournament highlights that do not include him. 

Rahm insisted he doesn't believe he is too far away from producing his best stuff after his weekend plans were confirmed. 

But he also reckons his game was and perhaps continues to be unfairly judged. 

"Consistency is something that I've always prided myself on," he said. 

"I think last year the state of my game was being unfairly judged based on how I played here and at the PGA compared to how I really played throughout the whole year.

"While I understand why, I don't think it was the most fair state of my game."

Rahm referenced his performances on LIV. 

"Top 10 statistics is something I've always prided myself on," he said.  

"Right before joining LIV, I think I was still close to 50 per cent worldwide in all my starts finishing top 10, which is something I pride myself on, and to keep it going that way is not easy."

Not easy? Let's think about this for a second. 

Rahm is playing against the same players every week and the majority of those players are nowhere near the top 50 players in the world, even if you use different ranking systems like Data Golf. 

I would argue the only decent players Rahm plays against when he's growing the game are the aforementioned DeChambeau and Hatton, Brooks Koepka and maybe Sergio Garcia.  

Golf aficionados will reference Joaquin Niemann. He's a great talent, yes, but hasn't come close to winning a major.

Cameron Smith is no longer the player he was. Neither is Dustin Johnson. 

So should we be be lauding Rahm's results over at LIV? I'm not so sure.

The reality is the only way we can properly judge Rahm these days are by his performances in the majors and that will remain the case whilst the men's game remains divided. 

I hope Rahm can find some form because the fans deserve it. They deserve to watch a locked-in Rahm staring down Amen Corner with fire in his eyes.  

They deserve Rahmbo.