SAINT QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France — Jon Rahm’s work in preparation for the Olympic golf tournament has been largely, and partly wrongly, overlooked, largely because he hasn’t made a bigger splash in League competition since his big breakout offseason signing with LIV Golf.

The conversation turned to the majors, and frankly, they weren’t great. A meager tie for 45th place in defense of his Masters title; a missed cut at the PGA Championship on a relatively good Valhalla course; a withdrawal from the US Open due to a foot infection; and then, finally, a tie for seventh place at the British Open, where he had never actually competed.

Rahm won the LIV Golf UK event in his final race before those Olympics, and most predictions about his season failed to capture the fact that he has never finished outside the top 10 in a single LIV event, is second in the points standings for the season, and could be first overall with two events remaining.

In fairness to LIV Golf, it hasn’t been a bad year by any means, but it hasn’t been up to the standards we’d expect from a two-time major winner and former No. 1 in the 2023 Official World Golf Rankings.

The Olympics were, of course, an opportunity to spin negative narratives. With a competitive field eager to compete for medals, the tournament provided the perfect stage for all involved.

So Rahm’s collapse in the final eight holes on Sunday adds further interest to what has been a challenging year for him, to say the least.

“I don’t remember the last time I played in a tournament and I felt that – I don’t know what the word is because I felt like I not only let myself down, but I felt like I didn’t make it for the whole country of Spain, it was much more painful than I wanted it to be,” Rahm said.

Rahm had a four-shot lead with eight holes remaining after a strong run to the top of the leaderboard, looking nearly invincible.

But he played the back nine in 39 strokes. Gold medalist Scottie Scheffler played in 29 strokes.

Rahm not only failed to win, he failed to medal; he made birdie on the final hole and then bogeyed three putts, finishing two shots behind Hideki Matsuyama for third place.

It all started with a three-putt for bogey on Le Golf National’s par-3 11th hole. Then a bad putt on the 12th hole led to another bogey.

But the death blow for Rahm was the par-5 14th, the easiest hole on the course all week. He had to bed in after a rough, but then left his third shot just short of the green. From there, he hit a poor chip shot, hit the green and missed his bogey putt for a shocking double-bogey 7 on the 14th hole, his worst score all week.

“The real mistake was the third shot on 14,” Rahm said. “I missed the fairway once, which can’t be because it’s a tough shot, you know, I made a lay up, it was a good lay up, I can’t do what I did on the third shot. I can’t go left; 8-iron, 162 meters (about 178 yards), I think. I’m trying to get the long putt out of play and I know short right is okay. Yeah, I can’t go left of that green, right, and I ended up with a terrible lie. I had to pay the price for the mistakes I made on that hole.”

Rahm was the only player to reach 20 under in the tournament, and Scheffler won at 19 under. It was a tough, surprising affair.

“I was faced with the question of where I thought this tournament would rank or what I thought it would feel like to win, and I think losing today gave me a much deeper appreciation for what this tournament means to me than if I had won any medals, right,” Rahm said. “I really get a taste of how important it is. I’ve been very honored to represent Spain in many, many different events, and it hurts so much not to be able to do that.

“The two most meaningful weeks in my career are the two events where we didn’t make money,” he said. “And I’ve said it a million times and I’ll say it again because it’s the Ryder Cup and that’s right there.

“(It’s) different than the Ryder Cup. It’s different. It’s not a big tournament. But I feel like it’s the ultimate prize to represent your country. And yeah, so that’s what makes it so special.”

Rahm has three more events in LIV Golf, starting with next week’s tournament at the Greenbrier. He could take personal pride in seeing his new team, Legion XIII, tie for LIV’s team title; he’s won four tournament titles this year.

But it would be unrealistic to think that will mean as much as winning a medal on Sunday, especially gold itself.

As for his other ultimate goal, the Ryder Cup, there’s still some uncertainty there. Rahm needs to play in four DP World Tour events this year (plus pay fines and suspensions) to qualify for the 2025 European team. The Olympics count as one event. He wants to play in the Spanish Open after the LIV season is over, but his wife’s pregnancy complicates things.

It will be interesting to see how this all unravels. As will the ongoing negotiations in a fragmented game. Rahm admitted in December that he thought signing with LIV Golf would speed up any deal; a deal that has seen no resolution eight months later.

No medals, just pride for Wyndham Clark

Wyndham Clark has been the source of significant criticism for his place among the four American qualifiers for the Olympics, especially considering his record of majors going into 2024. He missed the cut at the Masters, PGA Championship and British Open, and finished tied for 56th at the US Open, won by Bryson DeChambeau, and failed to qualify for the team.

DeChambeau’s fate, of course, is all but sealed when he moves to LIV Golf in July 2022. That’s when the Olympic qualifying system began. It ends this year with the U.S. Open. And he’s only been earning points in majors.

The official World Golf Ranking System, flawed or not — and it currently does not accredit LIV events — was the tool used to determine all 60 players, and it was in place and little thought of until DeChambeau shocked the world this year with a major feat of sixth place at the Masters and second place at the US Open.

There was never going to be a change at the last minute that would include him.

Whether it needs to be changed after this is a legitimate debate.

But all of that seemed a little unfair to Clark, who won the 2023 U.S. Open, won at Pebble Beach earlier this year and has finished in the top five five other times.

His record seems skewed by his poor major performances, but he played in the same system as everyone else and finished third behind Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele. He was actually ahead of the two players who finished ahead of DeChambeau: Collin Morikawa and Patrick Cantlay.

It didn’t help that Clark started the tournament bogey-double bogey-bogey and shot 75. On Friday, his 68 included a double bogey on the 18th hole. But he recovered with 65-65 finishes over the weekend with little to play for except pride and tied for 14th place.

“I think it’s more pride for myself and my country,” he said. “I wanted to make sure I showed up for my country. I didn’t want anyone to think I was just doing this as a show or just coming here for fun. I was serious. I was so mad after the first round because I wanted to get a medal. So I was really disappointed.

“But at the same time, I said this is for something bigger than myself. This creates a lot of momentum for my country and also for the Playoffs ahead.”

Clark said she was aware of some of the gossip about her, including that she had arrived in Paris early, attended the Opening Ceremony and attended many other events, and that some wondered if she was having too much fun.

“Yeah, it’s a bad start. I don’t think it has anything to do with attending the events or not attending them,” he said. “This could potentially be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and watching the events, spending time in the Village and getting the full experience, I may never get to do that again. So I wanted to make sure I did everything right. I don’t regret anything I did.”

“By the time I got to Tuesday, I had everything turned off and was ready to go. I played really good golf for 60 holes. I only had nine bad holes.”

“I struggled a lot with my starts and it was hard to overcome that, especially in the majors,” Clark said. “I started off really bad and then when I got to the back nine on Friday and started playing really good golf, I barely missed the cut and I got into the top 10 on some of the cuts I made.”

“So having a bad start is something I really need to work on; I need to have a solid start at least at the start; I feel like I can play well over the weekend.”

And we headed to Greensboro

After a weeklong break for the Olympics, the PGA Tour schedule continues this week in Greensboro with the Wyndham Championship, the final full-field and regular-season event on the FedEx Cup schedule.

For the second year in a row, only the top 70 in points will advance to the FedEx Cup playoffs, which begin next week at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis. From there, the top 50 will advance to the BMW Championship at Castle Pines in Colorado, and then the top 30 will compete for the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup title at East Lake in Atlanta.

MORE: Full squad for Wyndham Championship

The autumn schedule will resume in September and will be an opportunity for those outside the top 70 to improve their positions and for those outside the top 125 to secure exemptions for 2025.

There are a few names that stand out at Wyndham this week because of their attendance and absence.

Rickie Fowler isn’t playing. And Shane Lowry is playing.

Fowler is 104th in FedEx Cup points, meaning his season is over. The six-time PGA Tour winner, who won the Rocket Mortgage Classic in 2023, is exempt for the 2025 season. But he will now need sponsor invitations to enter signature events or play well in the various events leading up to them.

After Fowler’s breakthrough last year when he was named to the U.S. Ryder Cup team, there hasn’t been much to celebrate in 2024. He hasn’t finished in the top 10 and missed six cuts. He has played in all eight major events and his best finish is a tie for 18th at the RBC Heritage — his best of the year.

Fowler barely made the cut at the British Open, tying for 71st place. While it’s unclear whether he’ll make any starts in the fall, he appears to have that covered. Fowler’s wife, Allie, is also expected to be pregnant with the couple’s second child.

Next comes Lowry, who is ranked 10th in the FedEx Cup standings. He has secured a spot in the first two events and heads to Atlanta for the Tour Championship for the first time with some success.

Lowry, who won the New Orleans Zurich Classic with Rory McIlroy and also has two top-six finishes in majors, admitted that the Comcast Business pool, which pays bonuses to top-10 finishers, was one of the reasons he joined Wyndham.

There is also a desire to acquire a foothold in East Lake.

“I’ll give you my reasons,” Lowry told The Associated Press. “I’ve been trying to make this decision for the last couple of weeks because if I didn’t do well in the Open (sixth), I wasn’t going to go and chase. I don’t like to chase things.

“But I also hate the unknown. I like to know what I’m doing and plan where I’m going to go, where I’m going to play, what my family is going to do because we’re going back to Florida, school is starting again, everything.

“So we need to get our lives back on track. I got together with my coach and my team last week and I thought, OK, what’s the best thing to do? I thought, look, there’s only four weeks left in the FedEx Cup.

“I think this is going to be one of the best chances I’ll ever have to win the FedEx Cup, so at the end of the day every point is going to matter, not just for Comcast; if I can get a hundred points in the next week or so in the FedEx Cup, that’s definitely going to help me down the road.

“At the end of the day, I have a goal in mind that I want to go to Atlanta, and if I get there, I think I can accomplish something great.”