The world No. 5 shot a final-round 63 at Kapalua on Sunday evening to claim one of the greatest victories in PGA Tour history. The next morning he awoke to find that he was. . . Still world number 5. Say what?
What’s even more absurd is that Rahm has been an absolute heater for the past few months and has barely rocked at OWGR. In his last six starts, he has three wins and nothing worse than a T-8 finish, yet somehow, he’s moved up just one spot. Yes, he knows it well.
After his eighth PGA Tour victory and a $2.7 million check, Rahm was asked about the OWGR and whether he’s in contention to return to world No. 1. His answer was another shot at the organization, involving world No. 4 Patrick Cantlay. Catching a few strays!
“Oh, I definitely do, yeah. If they hadn’t changed the world ranking points, I would have been pretty close right now,” Rahm said. “At this point do I think I’ll pass Patrick Cantley? Because I haven’t missed a top 7 since the playoffs. I’ve won three times and I’m not even close to him. So I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on.”
So are we, John. So are we.
Seriously, the Spaniard has a point. As was the case in November, his main gripe is with the OWGR’s decision to limit points awarded to smaller field events. Even those small fields are elite, as in the Champions Sentry tournament, where 17 of the world’s top 20 tee off.
We’re guessing it’s nothing personal against Patrick Cantlay. However, Rahm still feels like he got a little snakebite at the 2021 Tour Championship. We put “loser” in quotes because Rahm shot the best 72-hole score, but lost the $15 million bonus to Cantlay, who started the week thanks to a stagnant leaderboard in the FedEx Cup final. Okay, yes, so this might be a little personal. . .
To be fair to Cantlay, he has played some great golf over the past few months with three top-two finishes in his past six starts, including a win at the BMW Championship. To be fair to World No. 1 Rory McIlroy, World No. 2 Scottie Scheffler and World No. 3 Cameron Smith, they are all coming off very special years.
“I feel like I’ve been the best player in the world since August, and I feel like, I think a lot of us should probably feel like we’re the best,” Rahm added. “At the beginning of the year obviously Scotty was that player, then Rory was that player, and I feel like it’s me now. Anyone can have three or four hot months in any year and get to that point. That’s the level of golf we’re at these days. That’s it. It’s very difficult to stay there, it takes a lot of golf.”
In other words, there is some top competition in pro golf these days, and that’s a good thing! Not necessarily if you’re one of those guys trying to get to the top like Jon Rahm.
