It was only a matter of time… and it was time to touch the sky. At his overwhelming 25 years of age, Jon Rahm became the number one in world golf after winning the Memorial Tournament in mid-July. The Barrika native achieved it 31 years after his admired Seve Ballesteros, who remained at the top of the world ranking for 61 weeks in different sections.
In this way, Rahm became the second Spanish golfer and the ninth European golfer to lead the world golf ranking. The Basque golfer thus joins his name to those of the great golfers since 1986, when this ranking was established, with the German Bernhard Langer as the first world number one. Those were the years of Seve, Nick Faldo, Greg Norman or Iam Woosnam. The Australian Norman is the second player in number of weeks at the top of this ranking, with 331. Only Tiger Woods is ahead with 683, who was then the great dominator of this sport.
Now Rahm, who has replaced Northern Ireland’s Mcllory at the top of the ranking, joins the list of illustrious golfers, and does so with plenty of room for improvement. His youth, his humility and his desire to continue learning are his best weapons to go much further.
Despite the fact that he has yet to win a major, his professional record already includes high-class tournaments, all of which are marked by consistency. The Memorial is his fourth PGA Tour title, following the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open, CareerBuilder Challenge 2018 and the 2019 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
More successes he reaped on the European circuit, with six tournaments, in addition to finishing number one in the Race to Dubai -formerly European Order of Merit- last year. Among them, two Spanish Opens, 2018 and 2019, two Irish Opens (2017and 2019) and two DP World Tour Championship Dubai (2017 and 2019).
He still has the subject of winning one of the majors, although he came close in the last two years. Third at the US Open and ninth at the Masters last year, and fourth at the 2018 Masters and 2018 US PGA show that he is very close to achieving it.
To all this, we must add his participation in the European team that disputed the Ryder Cup in 2018, where he stood out in the European triumph, in the competition that took place in Versailles (Paris).
But Rahm has already begun to show how much he is demonstrating in his amateur career with Arizona State University after only four seasons as a professional. The Barrika native has been the only golfer to win the annual Ben Hogan Award, which honors the best amateur and collegiate men’s golfer, on two occasions.
He was also named the 2016 winner of the Jack Nicklaus Award for best collegiate golfer in the United States, and in 2014 he won the World Amateur Championship.
Married since last December to javelin thrower Kelley Cahill, the young Basque who started playing golf at the age of 13 with his father, Edorta, now has the challenge of becoming even bigger. The majors await him.
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Objective achieved
“I don’t know how to describe it,” Rahm said as he culminated his dream of being world number one. “It’s been a goal since I was 13, 14 years old.”
About his compatriot predecessor at the top of world golf, the Barrika native said, “Seve is a very special player for all of us, and to be second behind him is a real honor,” Rahm said. “Anytime I can join Seve in anything, it’s amazing.”
Rahm said the moment was difficult to comprehend in part because his thoughts were with his family members, two of whom were killed by Covid-19.
“It’s hard to process right now,” he assured. “There are so many things going through my mind right now that have nothing to do with golf.”
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