Jon Rahm Is Having a Career-Best Season, and It's Only February
LOS ANGELES – It's Tiger Woods's tournament, so perhaps it is fitting that the man who won it on Sunday is dominating the game at the moment, at least in the context of today’s world of golf.
With a plethora of deep fields, especially at the so-called designated events where Jon Rahm prevailed again on Sunday, it is an impressive feat to win so often.
With a final-round 69, Rahm lost his 54-hole lead at the Genesis Invitational then rebounded to race past Max Homa to win for the fifth time in his last nine worldwide starts, including three in 2023 on the PGA Tour.
"I'm having the best season of my life," said Rahm, who in less than two months has earned more than $9 million in 2023 and joined Johnny Miller in 1974 and 1975 and Arnold Palmer in 1961 as the fastest to reach three victories before March 1.
The victory propelled Rahm back to the No. 1 ranking he held last year and pushed him past Scottie Scheffler—who held it for a week after surpassing Rory McIlroy when he won a week ago in Phoenix. Two weeks prior to that, McIlroy won the Hero Dubai Desert Classic on the DP World Tour.
It was also his second win in three designated events, following his victory at the year-opening Sentry Tournament of Champions. Rahm also won the American Express Championship.
Homa has also been playing well. He rallied from six shots back three weeks ago to capture the Farmers Insurance Open and won last fall at the Fortinet Championship. He has moved to eighth in the world.
"It's neat to see the guys who are playing the best right now," said Woods, the tournament host, who made his first tournament appearance of 2023 and tied for 45th. "You look at what Rahmbo has been doing, what Max has been doing this year, to see them rise on a golf course like this, this is what it's all about.
"This is a ballstriker's paradise and those two guys have been hitting the ball the best this entire year and it shows on the leaderboard."
Ultimately that is what propelled Rahm to victory, although he holed the kind of putt you need to sometimes make to win, rolling in a 45-footer on the par-3 14th hole to regain the lead for good.
He then knocked his approach with an 8-iron at the par-3 16th to 3 feet to all but seal the tournament.
Homa had given himself a chance with a birdies at the 7th, 9th and 10th holes but ultimately gave up the lead again when he bogeyed the 13th.
"I wanted to push him," Homa said. "He is a spectacular golfer. I would say other than Tiger and I don't even know, he's the most consistent player I've seen. I've known him since college and he's been like this since then, No. 1 amateur in the world, No. 1 player in the world, all the accolades.
"I wanted to make him beat me and I think I did that. I let him off the hook on 13, but man, it was cool to see myself push him and not feel like I had 100 percent of my game. I played great everywhere but off the tee on that back nine, but it is what it is.
"I was going to have to put up a pretty remarkable score. I think it's pretty amazing going against someone like Jon. You know he's going to play well so it's almost comforting knowing you're just going to have to play better, he's not going to fold. So I am—I'm not disappointed in my golf, I'm just disappointed in the ending."
Last year, Rahm was frustrated by his in his ability to win more. His only PGA Tour victory came at the Mexico Open and he did not contend at any of the major championships after winning the 2021 U.S. Open.
This year, he’s been in the top seven in all five of his starts, with three wins. He’s 93 under par in 20 rounds and lost to just eight players.
With six weeks to go until the Masters, Rahm will undoubtedly be considered among the favorites at Augusta National—although there is a lot golf still to come for him in the ensuing weeks.
He’s expected to play the next three designated events—the Arnold Palmer Invitational, The Players Championship and the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
"I guess I just keep doing what I've been doing," Rahm said. "I've been obviously doing a lot of the things I needed to do properly every single day and that's the important thing, right? Just keeping that daily process as good as I have been. Obviously I've been extremely disciplined my whole career, but right now I'm seeing the dividends of a lot of the hard work over the years. So just keep doing the small things and keep enjoying it, having fun.
"When you're playing good it's really fun and when you're winning tournaments, extremely fun, but got to enjoy the tough moments as well. Try to take it all in and, like I said, keep doing the little things properly every day and hopefully keep putting myself in position to win."