“I’ll be as straightforward as possible: we have to stop advertising LIV Golf. Another point; I think the criteria for the world rankings, right now, are ridiculous.” So Jon Rahm, number 5 in the world, on the eve of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, the last seasonal act of the maximum male continental circuit.
Jon Rahm, statements
“The fact that the RSM Classic, an event of the PGA Tour – added the Spaniard – does not have in the field any of the best 20 players on the planet, but reserves more points for the ranking than the event of the DP Tour in Dubai, where instead there are so many world champions, it says a lot about the fact that adjustments are needed.
I also believe that the LIV Golf circuit must be respected like any other tour. There are incredible golfers, starting with Dustin Johnson. that their tournaments are played on 54 holes, without cuts, the points criterion must be well regulated”
Jon Rahm attended Arizona State University and won 11 university tournaments, second only to Phil Mickelson who earned 16 titles. In 2015 he participated as an amateur in the Phoenix Open, finishing fifth. On April 1, he became first in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and stayed there for 25 weeks, then regained the position to hold it for another 35 weeks.
He thus qualified for the U.S. Open and the Open Championship of the following year: in the first of the two tournaments he finished twenty-third, then turned professional, simultaneously losing the right to play in the Open.
Quicken Loans National was his first professional event and he finished it third. The Canadian Open, on the other hand, saw him finish second. At the end of the season he obtained a card for the PGA Tour 2017. Rahm found his first success in the Farmers Insurance Open thanks to an eagle on the last hole, managing to enter the major tournaments on the world scene.
At the Mexico Championship, an event of the World Golf Championships series, he finished third, two shots from the winner Dustin Johnson, while in the second event, the Dell Technologies Match Play, he lost the final against Johnson himself.
He later won the Irish Open by six strokes and the final tournament of the European Tour season, the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, also winning the rookie of the year award- He started 2018 with a second place in the Tournament of Champions, still behind Dustin Johnson, but then came the triumph at the CareerBuilder Challenge with which he reached the second position in the ranking: followed by the Spanish Open and the Ryder Cup 2018 together with the European team.
He finished the year by also taking the title at the Hero World Challenge in December. In 2019, success came at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and third place at the U.S. Open. He then returned to winning the Irish Open and defended the title at the Spanish Open.
In the season finale he still triumphs at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, thus finishing in the lead in the Race to Dubai and becoming European Tour Golfer of the Year.
