The No. 1 participant on the earth, Jon Rahm, mentioned he acquired some stable recommendation lately on the way to preserve his recreation at its peak for so long as doable.
And it got here from Tiger Woods.
“I requested him, ‘Out of the 82 wins on the PGA Tour,’ — I did not get into the opposite ones — ‘what number of instances do you assume you performed your finest all 4 days?'” Rahm advised reporters on Tuesday. “And he mentioned, ‘Three at most.’ Proper? Quite a lot of these Sundays he performed his finest, however the entire week, only a few.
“The factor is, you do not must be firing on all cylinders to win.”
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However coming off his win on the Genesis Invitational on Feb. 19 — a win that put Rahm within the No. 1 spot within the Official World Golf Rating — the Spaniard is firing on all cylinders. Requested forward of this weekend’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill if anybody may beat him, the reply was easy: “No.”
Rahm was fast so as to add that he hopes lots of gamers would really feel the identical approach, however it’s laborious to argue with the arrogance Rahm has within the state of his recreation. He arrived at Bay Hill coming off his fifth win in his previous 9 worldwide begins, and is the primary participant since Johnny Miller in 1975 to win three occasions in a yr earlier than the calendar reached March.
“There’s lots of satisfaction that involves it once you get to be No. 1 when the opposite gamers have been taking part in nice golf as nicely,” Rahm mentioned. “Scottie [Scheffler] had an awesome yr final yr, Rory [McIlroy] had an awesome yr final yr, after which in the direction of the top of the yr I sort of picked up.
“And even with Scottie successful at Phoenix, I used to be in a position to get to No. 1 proper after.”
It was Scheffler who knocked McIlroy off the highest spot on the Waste Administration Open at TPC Scottsdale on Feb. 12, however Scheffler’s reign lasted only one week earlier than Rahm moved forward of him along with his win at Riviera.
How lengthy Rahm stays there stays to be seen — McIlroy or Scheffler may leapfrog him once more relying upon how issues go at Bay Hill.
Rahm, who has been an outspoken critic of the OWGR, acknowledged the facility wrestle over No. 1 between three gamers competing at such an elite stage is thrilling for the sport.
“I imply, it has been nice,” Rahm mentioned. “What’s it, probably the most quantity of No. 1 adjustments on this quick time period? I noticed a few of these stats as a result of it is simply actually attention-grabbing, which speaks to the greatness of the sport of golf proper now, how good all people’s been taking part in.”
The revamped schedule and elevated purses the PGA Tour applied in response to the competitors from LIV Golf have led to the highest gamers competing in the identical occasion way more usually.
This week, 43 of the highest 50 gamers within the OWGR are at Bay Hill — probably the most at an occasion for the reason that 2022 Open Championship. The vast majority of them additionally will head two hours north for subsequent week’s Gamers Championship.
That is all with an eye fixed towards the Masters the primary week of April. Maybe the continued risk from the likes of McIlroy and Scheffler on the prime of the world rankings will proceed to push Rahm to keep up his present stage.
“There’s lots of satisfaction that involves it,” he mentioned of being No. 1 on the earth. “Once we’ve been taking part in the best way we have been taking part in, it is lots of enjoyable.
“It is best to sit down and replicate and revel in what you are doing, clearly. However as opponents you do not need it to finish, clearly.”
Info from Reuters was used on this report.
