The European team’s Ryder Cup triumph did not come easily, as they had to face ruthless heckling. Things got so heated that Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry got involved in arguing with some fans. But amid all the chaos, Jon Rahm’s calm demeanor left many wondering what it took for him to keep his emotions in check. Turns out, he didn’t face any less heckling than McIlroy and Lowry. In fact, as Rahm revealed, the barrage of insults continued from the time he hit the range till the round ended and included some choicest words.

“It was rough. It was a tough week,” Jon Rahm revealed on the SubPar podcast. “With my group, so with me and Tyrrell and Sepp, right, all three of us rather overweight, two of them with a very far back hairline, and two of us being in LIV, all I heard was, ‘Traitor, Terrorist, Fat, Ozempic a lot, and Turkey and hairline appointment things It’s not so much — of course, you’ve got the usual thing where they say something about your wife and your kids which is expected but over the line. It was more the fact that from the moment we got to the range it started until we left the golf course. Ten to 12 hours non-stop.

“The other thing that I wasn’t ready for when I hit the opening tee shot 400 yards right, I wasn’t ready for it to keep going as we were taking the club back,” Rahm said. “We hit a lot of shots with them still talking, and that was the part was something we had to adjust to. That first hole, I told Tyrrell on the green, ‘Well, I guess we’re not going to hit a shot all tournament without it being rowdy.’”

The Spaniard also explained that engaging with the crowd would have pulled his focus away from his game.

“We all of us had a really fun way to look at it,” Rahm said. “Whenever they called us fat, especially me and Sepp, [we] would laugh. Like do you think we don’t own a mirror? I know. We know. We’re the ones eating. I get it. Let’s move on. It was less original than expected.”

Clearly, Rahm decided to have fun with it. After he hit a wayward shot on the fifth hole, even an argument broke out between two spectators when one tried criticizing Rahm for moving to LIV Golf.

“I had this guy in my ear calling me a traitor, terrorist, this and that,” the player said. “And first thing I want to say is I’m like, ‘Dude, a traitor to who? I’m not from this country, clearly.’ “After he said it enough times, there was a five-second pause, and there was a woman next to the guy that was grilling me who just goes, ‘Well, for that amount of money, I will do it too.’ And then they started arguing with themselves. They started having a conversation. They started arguing with themselves. I actually found it quite funny.”

This is contrary to how McIlroy or Lowry had handled the situation.

McIlroy, at one point, yelled “shut the f–k up” to a fan who was chirping on his backswing. Shane Lowry, on the other hand, also confronted some fans head-on. After draining a putt, the Irishman pointed toward a fan and screamed, “f–k you.”

In fact, on the 10th hole, he even got a fan ejected. Robert MacIntyre also took a jab by sharing an Instagram post about all the heckles he faced. But not Jon Rahm. He knew that trading words would hurt his performance rather than help it.

“You almost have to make a choice at that point,” the former Masters champion further added. “You either give it back to them, or you don’t. And you know what kind of a person you are. Clearly, Rory and Shane fed off of that and did great. I know if I start having banter with the crowd, it’s going to take away from golf, right? So the best I could do was just stay quiet and act like it wasn’t there. That was the best way I could handle it. It was rough. It was a tough week.”

However, it was not so much about what they were saying; Jon Rahm’s mindset was more affected by the fact that fans were constantly heckling them from the time they went on the course until they left it. The LIV Golf pro expected heckles. He even said that it was obvious, but facing them for 10 to 12 long hours was a stiff challenge. But despite all that, Rahm decided to stay silent about everything.

This explains why fans see him as one of the most humble among professional golfers.

Jon Rahm’s humbleness on display with a content creator

An Instagram post featuring Jon Rahm, which was shared by a content creator in December last year went viral. Notably, the content creator didn’t recognize the 2x major winner. While others might have felt offended, Rahm graciously introduced himself. It showed the golfer’s humility and down-to-earth nature despite an elite status. In fact, when the creator asked Rahm about his success, he gave a modest response.

“I was very lucky,” Rahm said.

He credited luck and the people he met along the way for his achievements instead of taking the credit. The Spaniard even included a reference to a Kobe Bryan quote about focus and opportunity. His humble nature garnered many positive comments from fans.

Jon Rahm’s silence at the Ryder Cup reflects this humbleness and discipline rather than detachment. He chose focus over feeding the noise around him. That same restraint and humility, seen both on the course and off it, continue to shape how fans view him beyond results and rivalries.