Despite Rankings Saying Otherwise, Jon Rahm Believes He’s the Best Golfer in the World

The calculus of the Official World Golf Ranking system says that Rory McIlroy is the best golfer in the world. According to Jon Rahm (and many others), the eye test is proving differently.

Rahm, who is ranked No. 5 in the OWGR, is a bit perplexed after failing to gain ground on McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Smith, and Patrick Cantlay after winning for the third time worldwide since October.

 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Jon Rahm Rodriguez (@jonrahm)

After his most-recent win at the PGA Tour’s Sentry Tournament of Champions on Sunday, Rahm said,

“Since the playoffs… I’ve won three times and I don’t even get close to [McIlroy]. So I’m trying to understand what’s going on. In my mind, I feel like since August, I’ve been the best player in the world.”

“Earlier in the year clearly Scottie (Scheffler) was that player, then Rory (McIlroy) was that player, and I feel like right now it’s been me. Anybody, any given year can get a hot three, four months and get to that spot.”

Rahm held the top spot in the rankings until Scheffler’s hot streak last spring, where he won four times in six events, including the Masters. McIlroy took it over after winning The CJ Cup in October. But after a fourth-place finish at the DP World Tour Championship in November, McIlroy hasn’t teed off since.

It was Scheffler who had a chance this past weekend to jump back to the No. 1 position if he finished third or better at Kapalua, but he dropped from second to seventh in the final round of the Sentry to remain in second place.

Rahm, who won the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai along with the Open de Espana in the fall, didn’t have a stellar showing in the majors or in the FedEx Cup playoffs, which seemed to do more harm to his ranking than the recent wins did him good.

In his last 15 starts, Rahm has won 2 national opens, a tour championship, the “tournament of champions”, had 10 x top 10’s and 0 missed cuts yet his world ranking has dropped from 2 to 5.

Laughable.

— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) January 9, 2023

While in Dubai in November, Rahm sounded off on the OWGR, calling it “laughable” after he learned that the winner of the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic that weekend was earning far more points than he got from winning the DP World Tour’s signature event with a far better field.

Cover Image Via FoxNews