OLIVER HOLT: From king of the world to LIV Golf obscurity... tepid, bitter and uninspired Jon Rahm played The Masters like a man who knows he has made a horrible mistake

You may not know this but Jon Rahm's team in the LIV Golf series is called Legion XIII. It makes it sound a little as if he is one of the outriders in a march of doom. Which, in terms of the split that is carving golf apart, he probably is.

Anyway, it's called Legion XIII for the entirely logical reason that Rahm's defection to the breakaway tour at the end of last year meant the creation of a 13th LIV team, with Rahm at its head. Thirteen. Unlucky for some.

Not unlucky in terms of the money Rahm took to sign for LIV, obviously.

Having spoken out against the Saudi-backed series in the past, he decided to take a reported £450million. He was thinking of securing his family's future, presumably, because he hadn't made enough from the sport already.

But there is a price for what Rahm did, too, and as he walked on to the first tee at Augusta National just before noon on a gloriously sunny day in Georgia, there was an unmistakable sense that he is beginning to pay it.

Jon Rahm only just managed to finish inside the top 50 in his defence of the Green Jacket

Rahm looked tepid, bitter and uninspired as he returned to Augusta having joined LIV Golf

As Rahm, 29, stood gazing down the first fairway that plunges into a valley and then rises up the hillside beyond, he knew this was his last day as the reigning Masters champion and that a return to the gilded obscurity of LIV Golf is stretching out before him.

He played his final round wearing the air of a man who is beginning to realise he has made a horrible mistake. He was the king of the world and all of golf stretched out before him, waiting to be conquered. And then he sabotaged it all.

He ruined his legacy by turning his back on mainstream golf at the height of his powers and joining a tour with a 54-hole format, where the lack of intensity seems to have left Rahm singularly unprepared for a return to the demands of more competitive golf.

His move to LIV has changed perceptions of him, too. It has damaged his image and dampened his popularity.

When he got to the first green yesterday, he was met with the sight of a half-empty stand.

Last year he was on top of the world but now looks like a man who knows he made a mistake

Smaller crowds followed the 2023 champion around Augusta National following his defection

It didn't feel as if we were watching the reigning Masters champion. It felt as if we were watching a guy who blew it when he was at his peak.

Those same stands are packed to capacity when Rory McIlroy plays in front of them. And Tiger Woods. And Scottie Scheffler.

But not Rahm. Not any more. His popularity has nosedived.

'He has been playing resort courses in shorts for the past couple of months and hasn't really been tested yet,' three-times Masters winner Sir Nick Faldo said on the eve of the tournament.

'Rahm's a hell of a player, but he's going to have to make a little bit of effort to step it up and get the right intensity. Whether he's just not quite sharp enough because he hasn't tested himself quite as much, we'll have to wait and see.'

Faldo's misgivings were quickly borne out. To no one's great surprise, it turns out the highlight of Rahm's week at Augusta was the Champions' Dinner he hosted in the clubhouse on Tuesday night.

He chose the menu and served up beautiful Basque specialities. The rest of the week, he served up tripe.

Rahm shakes hands with Nick Dunlap after completing his second round and making the cut

Rahm (pictured with Greg Norman) signed a deal worth a reported £450m at the end of 2023

He is not a demonstrative man at the best of times but many remarked over the four days of the tournament that his demeanour was even more joyless and sour than usual.

He is not the first to have struggled with the mantle of winning the Masters but his defence of his title was particularly tepid, bitter and uninspired.

Most of the damage was done with a second-round four over par 76 and he raised eyebrows by blaming the gusty conditions and hinting that he believed Augusta National should have halted play because of the disruption the weather was causing.

But the truth is that Rahm did not shoot a single round below par all week. Even he would have found it hard to blame the weather for all of them. On Sunday, he shot 76 again. The sky was blue and the day was hot and still.

Maybe it wasn't the conditions that caused the problems for Rahm's game after all.

Rahm hosted The Masters Champions Dinner on Wednesday, a longstanding Augusta tradition

He saved his worst round of the week for last. He made a reasonable start but then he dropped four shots in the space of four holes around the turn, letting his club fall out of his hands in dismay after one particularly poor tee shot. He double-bogeyed the 10th after a bump-and-run chip that climbed up the slope towards the green and then rolled back down it again.

He double-bogeyed the 16th after leaving his tee shot short and watching it roll down the bank at the front of the green and bounce into the pond.

He finished with two pars and a score of nine over. It was his worst-ever performance in the Masters.

Before this year, before this title defence, his worst cumulative total at the tournament was 292. This year it was 297. And so now it is back to Legion XIII and its march of doom. The next stop for LIV Golf is the Grange Golf Club in Adelaide at the end of the month.

Rahm was thinking of securing his family's future when he joined LIV, presumably, because he hadn't made enough from the sport already 

Rahm has already admitted he misses some of the events he used to play on the PGA Tour but now he is heading back to a series which sells itself as Golf but Louder.

It does not seem to fit Rahm's ethos or his personality but he is stuck with it now. The overwhelming feeling watching him bow out as Masters champion was sadness that it has come to this. He looked, and played, like a man diminished. A man who has reduced himself to a pay cheque.

Rahm finished on the same total as Jose Maria Olazabal this year. Olazabal is one of the other three Spaniards to have won the Masters and is a legend of the game. Nearly 30 years Rahm's senior, he is also regarded with almost universal respect.

One day, maybe, Rahm will learn that no amount of money can buy you that.