Age: 25
World ranking (current/end of year)
Current: 2nd
2019: 3rd
2018: 6th
2017: 4th
2016: 137th
[[ad:athena]]
Current 2020 Stats
FedEx Cup Rank: 21st
Events: 5
Wins: 0
Top 10: 4
Top 25: 5
Made Cut: 5
Money: $1,895,143
Strokes Gained
Off-The-Tee: 5th (2019: 5th, 2018: 2nd, 2017: 3rd)
Approach: 49th (2019: 34th, 2018: 96th, 2017: 20th)
Around The Green: 87th (2019: 78th, 2018: 52nd, 2017: 86th)
Putting: 4th (2019: 36th, 2018: 147th, 2017: 55th)
Tee-To-Green: 13th (2019: 10th, 2018: 20th, 2017: 4th)
Total: 3rd (2019: 6th, 2018: 28th, 2017: 5th)
Analysis
The Spaniard’s 2020 form is an exact extension of the way he ended the 2019 season. Indeed, since missing back-to-back cuts at the PGA Championship and Schwab Challenge last May he has collected 16 finishes of T17 or better in 17 worldwide starts and no less than nine of them were top three efforts, with three triumphs on the European Tour among that tally. He’ll be keen to add a first PGA Tour win since January 2018 sooner rather than later, but his stats back up the idea that he’s heading in the right direction. He’s always been brutally good Off the Tee, very good Tee to Green, but his Putting ranking so far this season show a huge improvement on the past. It’s why the World No. 1 spot is within his sights.
Grade so far: B+
2020 quotes
WM Phoenix Open (on his form): “I’ve been playing really, really good golf, especially since the U.S. Open, and pretty much I’ve always had a chance to win or finish top ten. I tee it up to win every time, I practice to be the best I can be, and hopefully the best I can be takes me to World No. 1 at some point.”
WGC Mexico Championship (on processes): “Sometimes you need to take a couple steps back to take a big leap forward. It’s how the process works. If you give up, well, you’re going to keep tripping over the same rock every other week. If you learn from it, I would consider it as a success.”
THE PLAYERS Championship (on putting): “I’ve been consistently good off the tee for four years. I think the putting stat (this year) is more unusual. I know last year I was really good inside five feet on TOUR and this year I think I’m really good inside ten feet. I’m playing really good.”
THE MAJORS (most recent result on the left)
The Masters: 9-4-27
Rahm has now played 12 laps of Augusta National and found himself in the top 20 at the end of them ten times. Moreover, although four of his first five circuits were over-par efforts, his last seven have all been under-par and five were sub-70. If he can maintain the improved putting it surely only adds to the notion that a green jacket is well within his grasp.
PGA Championship: MC-4-58
A remarkably consistent record. His three R1 positions have been T15-T16-T17, twice he added a second round 75 and failed to make the top 50, but in the middle effort he added a Friday 67. It may be worth noting that the winning score in 2018, when he was fourth (with four rounds in the 60s), was 264 at Bellerive. But in 2017 at Quail Hollow it was 276 and last year 272 at Bethpage Black – and in his six rounds on these hard examinations, he failed to break 70.
U.S. Open: 3-MC-MC-23
In his first three U.S. Open Thursdays, he struggled, shooting two 76s and a 78, ending each of them outside the top 100; only once did he recover to make the weekend. Last year at Pebble Beach, the easiest of the four challenges, he was in the top 20 all week. Put together his PGA Championship and U.S. Open woes when playing on tough-scoring layouts and you might want to steer clear when he is next facing such a test.
Open Championship: 11-MC-44-59
Despite that missed cut in 2018, he’s actually ended five of his last six rounds T12 or better. And although he’s yet to reap reward in this event his undoubted skill at, and enthusiasm for, links golf has been advertized by his Irish Open wins at Portstewart and Lahinch.
