Jon

Rahm

Rahm has held the top spot in the FedExCup standings since late January but that changed last week in Chicago as he settled for a T-31 finish and got passed up by Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland, and Rory McIlroy. The Spaniard will now start four shots off the lead, well within striking distance. Yet, he’s not a big fan of the format, “I think the last few years I’ve spoken about this format. It’s easier to understand. I don’t think it’s the best we can come up with.” Bookmakers have him pegged as a +830 outright option, which is fourth on the board but almost twice the price of third-on-the-board Hovland.

The Spaniard arrives with a No. 1 next to his name in the FedExCup category. His four-win season has him in the driver’s seat with only two playoff events remaining. “The point of coming to the Playoffs is to give yourself the best chance to get to East Lake on the No. 1 spot. I’ve done a pretty good job so far. Hopefully this week I can have a good performance like I did last time and earn it and clinch it and give myself the best shot for the win.” Rahm has cooled his pace since winning the Masters in April but still arrives with some good results in the rear-view, posting a runner-up finish at The Open, just two starts ago for him.

The Spaniard had a strong season with four wins including a big one at the Masters. He also grabbed a runner-up finish at The Open, his most recent start. That came immediately after a planned three-week break for him to recharge the batteries. That worked out well and now he is well rested ahead of the Playoffs. While he’s sitting in the top spot to enter the playoffs, he is not looking to coast over the next two weeks, “Obviously you want to win every time we tee it up, but yeah, the goal is to try to get to East Lake as No. 1 and enjoy that two-shot lead.”

The Spaniard backdoored a top 10 at the U.S. Open then missed the cut at the Travelers Championship a week later. This will be his first appearance since the Travelers, returning from a three-week break. “When we did the schedule early in the year we did purposefully add this three-week break because we knew it was going to be a lot going into this, and then afterwards we have the Playoffs, we still have Wentworth, Ryder Cup, Spanish Open.” With his batteries recharged, Rahm is hoping to spark a summer run of good form. Making his seventh appearance at The Open, he enters with two finishes of T-11 or better but four finishes outside of the top 33.

Rahm lost strokes off-the-tee in round one then lost strokes on approach on Friday. “Ball-striking wise, it slowly got a little bit better each day. Yesterday went to the range in the afternoon and found a very comfortable feel that I felt like I could replicate often.” His story certainly checks out as he gained 1.8 strokes off-the-tee over the weekend and a whopping 3.96 strokes on approach. Rahm now has a win and three other top 12s over his last five tries at the U.S. Open. He’s been relatively quiet, by his lofty standards, since winning the Masters, but could be ready to rally again if he can maintain these weekend ball-striking stats over the course of an entire event.

The Spaniard has 11 career PGA TOUR wins and five of them have come in the state of California. “I like playing in California. I have a pretty good record, and I’m glad that this early in my career, I’m getting to play another U.S. Open here in this state. Magnificent golf course. It’s a great venue.” The World No. 2 golfer won the Masters in April but regressed with a T50 at the PGA Championship. Rahm has four straight top 25s at the U.S. Open including a T3 in 2019 and a win at the 2021 edition (Torrey Pines). He’s starting the week positioned second on the outright odds board, behind only Scottie Scheffler.

The Spaniard traded four birdies with two bogeys today. “‘I’m pleased with it. It’s too bad I couldn’t take advantage of the, let’s say, easier conditions on the front nine. There was no wind, great temperature, perfect greens. Gave myself chances and couldn’t convert a couple of them. If I had to say something to do better today I think with a couple of the tee shots I hit, give myself better birdie looks on a couple of the par-5s. Besides that, I think it’s a really good round of golf that if a couple putts dropped could have been a really good one.” Rahm put on a striking clinic today with 12-of-14 fairways (T2) and 15 GIR (1st).

The World No. 1 was a co-favorite to start the week and got out to a reasonable start, 1-under thru 6 holes. He swallowed three straight bogeys before making the turn and it didn’t get much better on his way into the clubhouse. “The only thing I can look back on myself is the three short putts I missed on the back nine, I’m between three to five feet, if I make those putts, I shoot 3-over which is not the worst-case scenario.” Rahm currently sits 10 shots off the lead and will require a DeChambeau-like effort on one of the next three days if he wants to play his way back into contention.

Rahm hasn’t had much rest since winning the Masters, but always takes pride in staying true to his commitments. That made it an easy decision to return to Mexico despite him feeling the need for rest before the next stretch of the season. He didn’t go back-to-back this week but certainly gave the fans a show. The highlight was his course-record 61 on Saturday but he was also consistent with sub-69s all four days. “Still proud to come back after the year that has been and put on a show and have a good defense of the title.” This will go in the books as his ninth podium finish since September (14 worldwide stroke-play events). He will remain a betting favorite any time he tees it up, for the foreseeable future.

Rahm started on the 10th tee today and swallowed two bogeys on his first seven holes played (also one birdie). He rebounded with five birdies on his final 11 holes played to put himself back near the top and remain the betting favorite (+300). The highlight of his round was a closing, 25-footer for birdie at the par-3 ninth. “I did make some good swings early on, I just couldn’t quite get the number and judge some lies off the fairway, but that’s just things that happen. I’m happy I played as good as I did on the back nine and capped it off with the putt on the last hole.” He’s currently four shots off the early pacesetter Austin Smotherman, with 54 holes remaining.