Jon Rahm proved on Sunday that he is the best player in the world.
Rahm rolled to a win at The American Express on Sunday afternoon, besting Davis Thompson with a final-round 68 in La Quinta, California. The win marked not just Rahm’s second consecutive on the PGA Tour, but his fourth win in his last six international starts.
While his stretch of wins somehow won’t quite catapult Rahm to the No. 1 ranking in the world, there is no question that Rahm is absolutely dominating the sport.
Rahm entered Sunday with a share of the lead at 23-under, although he and Davis were four full shots ahead of the rest of the field. He opened Sunday with a pair of birdies, too, picking up right where he left off after Saturday’s 7-under 65.
Rahm’s lone stumble came at the par-3 13th on Sunday after his tee shot missed the green. He quickly offset that bogey with a birdie three holes later, although he narrowly escaped what would have been a disastrous approach shot.
That birdie finally separated Rahm from Thompson, and gave him a one shot lead into the final two holes.
Rahm then parred out the rest of the way, and Thompson missed a heartbreaker at the 17th, to seal the one-stroke win. Rahm saved his par on the 18th, too, after a clutch bunker approach that landed just a few feet from the cup.
Thompson finished second at 26-under on the week after his final-round 68. Thompson had five eagles in his first 36 holes in what was a wild start for the 23-year-old. Xander Schauffele jumped up 13 spots with his 10-under 62 on Saturday, and finished in a tie for third with Chris Kirk. Schauffele holed out from 225 yards on the fifth hole, too, for an albatross to get his hot stretch going, too.
Jon Rahm jumps to No. 3 in the OWGR
Rahm is on a tear, one that nobody else in the golf world seems to be able to disrupt. He opened the year with two Tour wins in as many starts, first with his comeback win at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii and now this week in Southern California. Those wins came on the heels of two DP World Tour wins last fall, first at the Acciona Open de Espana in October and then again at the DP World Tour Championship in November.
Rahm’s only other starts during this stretch came at The CJ Cup, where he finished T4, and at the Hero World Challenge, Tiger Woods’ unofficial charity event in The Bahamas.
Rahm entered the week ranked No. 4 in the Official World Golf Rankings. He’ll only move up one spot in the ranks with his win, something Rahm has been frustrated with after the OWGR made tweaks to how it calculates its standings last fall. Neither the Sentry Tournament of Champions nor the DP World Tour Championship wins carry as much weight as his other two, which Rahm called “laughable” in November.
Rahm, however, shouldn’t have too much to worry about with the way he’s playing. Unless current world No. 1 Rory McIlroy comes out ridiculously hot when he makes his 2023 debut, Rahm should overtake him soon.
Regardless of when that happens with the rankings, Rahm is playing like the best player in the world.