The Spanish Golf Federation and Spanish Olympic Committee have announced that Jon Rahm, the winner of last week‘s 2021 US Open champion at Torrey Pines and 2019 Race to Dubai winner will partner Dubai resident Adri Arnaus, in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic men’s golf from July 29 to August 1 in Saitama, Japan.
Gulf News caught up with Arnaus on Monday night in Paris.
Adri is not playing at this week’s BMW International in Munich before playing a three-week stretch of tournaments in the UK.
“My next event is in Ireland to play in the €3 million Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at the Jack Nicklaus-designed parkland course at Mount Juliet Estate in Kilkenny, which starts on July 1,” Arnaus said.
“I am flying this week to the UK to play some links golf in preparation for an important period of my 2021 season — the Scottish Open at North Berwick, the $7 million Rolex Series event, and then I’m off to The Open at Royal St Georges in Kent.”
Arnaus was thrilled to hear the news that he was selected to represent Spain in Japan. “I am so excited to be playing for my country in the Olympics,” he said. “The icing on the cake is that my fellow Spaniard in the event is the recently crowned US Open champion. I have played so much golf with Jon growing up so I am pumped up to be sharing this special week with him. I am just 24 days older than Jon so we have travelled the world as amateurs and more recently professionals as competitors and it will be great to be both representing Spain and be able to engage together in this unique event on the golfing calendar.
“I recall watching golf in the Olympics just five years ago in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, when I was still an amateur. I immediately made it a career target to represent Spain as a professional in the Olympics and it is hard to believe it has happened so early in my golfing career.
“I plan to message Jon and speak to him later this week, as he will be drowning now with personal messages of congratulations on winning his first of, I am sure, many majors. We will then chat about the Olympics and our collective plans on how to approach and plan for the Olympics week.”
Arnaus will come home to Dubai the week after the Open Championship and then rest and practise here for a few days at his home before flying on to Japan.
Arnaus also plans to start his COVID-19 vaccination programme in Dubai during his brief stay, having been sidelined with a positive test at the Qatar Masters in March. “It is cool to be playing for Spain in the Olympics and I cannot wait for it to start,” Arnaus said.
