Jon Rahm becoming Ryder Cup icon just like his idol, Seve Ballesteros, did

Every two years, when it’s Ryder Cup season, Seve Ballesteros is omnipresent for Team Europe.Images of Ballesteros, some accompanied by famous quotes of his, adorn the walls of the European team room like wallpaper.It’s all there as inspiration because Ballesteros built a reputation as not only the greatest Spanish player ever, but one of the greatest European Ryder Cuppers of all time, having compiled a 20-12-5 career record.No one reveres Ballesteros with more passion than Jon Rahm, the 30-year-old Spaniard who calls Seve his idol.There will come a time — and it’s coming fast — when Rahm is that figure that Ballesteros represents.Rahm will be the idol of players coming up in future generations.He’s become an unbeatable force for Europe.

In this Ryder Cup, he’s 3-1 entering the Sunday singles matches, which gives him a 10-4-3 career record.He won both of his matches (foursomes in the morning and four-ball in the afternoon) Friday and split his matches Saturday.He’s 9-1-2 in his last 12 matches with a partner.Rahm’s loss alongside Sepp Straka to J.J.

Spaun and Xander Schauffele was his first loss in a match with a partner since his first Ryder Cup, in 2018.European captain Luke Donald led off with Rahm in Friday’s foursomes to set a tone for his team.He and Tyrrell Hatton smoked Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas on Friday, and he and Hatton defeated Patrick Cantlay and Schauffele in the afternoon.

“I like Jon as a leader,’’ Donald said of his reasoning for batting him leadoff.In Rahm’s first of four Ryder Cups, the 2018 captain, Thomas Bjorn, called him “probably the most exciting player to come into the game since Rory [McIlroy].He’s powerful and strong and has a great attitude to go wherever he wants to go in this game.’’Rahm has taken himself to a place where he’ll be forever viewed as a European Ryder Cup legend, the same way Ballesteros is viewed.

A beautiful thing about Rahm is his humble nature despite being one of ...