Jon Rahm knows perfection not essential for success, when he defends the US Open

Jon Rahm got the defence of his US Open title under way today, bringing home

the fact that perfection is not required for success in the majors.

Rahm took a birdie on the two final holes of Torrey Pines last year to win by just one stroke from Louis Oosthuizen,

 but the Ryder Cup star learnt recently that his final score of 67 might not have been as great as he had thought it was.

"It's easy to think you need to be playing perfect golf," Rahm said prior to teeing off at Brookline

around 7.18am at local time (12.18 Irish time) alongside Open champion Collin Morikawa and 2021 US Amateur winner James Piot.

"I recall watching my highlights from Sunday last year's tournament and thinking that I had played

 one of the best rounds of my career I was thinking that I couldn't believe how many fairway bunkers hit the day

before and how many greens I didn't hit and the number of putts I didn't hit.