World No. 1 Jon Rahm has gone three PGA Tour appearances without finishing in the top 10 heading into Wednesday’s opening of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club in the Lone Star State.
When was the last time that happened to you? The Tour was waking up after a 13-week COVID-19 hibernation. In fact, since turning professional in 2015, the Spaniard has only had six top-10 finishes in three to five consecutive outings on the Tour.
When asked about his present form, Rahm appears unconcerned. In fact, if you bring up his putting, he gets a little annoyed.
“Every week, I’m getting a little bored of answering the same question,” Rahm added. “My putting stats aren’t going to be top 20 when you’re No. 1 off the tee and top 10 in strokes gained approach.” It’s impossible unless I win every week by an average of eight points. That’s how it goes.”
While he is ranked No. 1 in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, No. 1 in Greens in Regulation (75.74 percent), and No. 4 in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, he is ranked No. 139 in Strokes Gained: Putting.
“Do you think it’s as good as it could be?” No, but I think the stats reflect it worse than it feels because I’m hitting so many greens and hitting them so well,” Rahm explained. “I feel like I’ve said it a couple times before. It isn’t as horrible as it appears. It’s a lot better in person than it appears.
“Perhaps I haven’t received the findings yet, but I’m not concerned.”
He has no reason to be. He won the Memorial the last time he went three starts without finishing in the top ten. He also enjoys playing matches.
In 2020, he won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with Ryan Palmer, which featured foursome and four-ball play.
He’s 4-3-1 in two Ryder Cup appearances, including a singles victory over Tiger Woods in 2018.
In his four appearances in the Dell Technologies Match Play, he lost in the final to Dustin Johnson in 2017 and in the quarterfinals to Scottie Scheffler in 2021.
Rahm stated, “It’s a tournament I always look forward to.” “It’s a welcome respite in the middle of the season.” When things start to become a little more intense, having an event where it’s match play, enjoyable, and a lot more exciting, at least for me, is a lot more exciting.
“A different mentality, where instead of a four-day grind, you can just play one-on-one golf and take care of the guy in front of you.”
Rahm, the tournament’s top seed, must first get past Patrick Reed, Cameron Young, and Sebastian Munoz in pool play over the opening three days of the tournament. Following that, the field of 32 players, which includes seven of the world’s top-10 players, including No. 2 Collin Morikawa, No. 3 Viktor Hovland, No. 4 Patrick Cantlay, and No. 5 Scheffler, will be cut down to 16 players who will begin single-elimination play on Saturday.
His strategy for match play is straightforward: never give up. Example No. 1: In the 2017 final, Rahm was 4 down with six holes to play after losing five of the opening six holes against Johnson. He did, however, win holes 13, 15, and 16, but Johnson was able to hold on.
“I know it sounds cliche, but if you’re 5 down and have six holes to play, win all six,” Rahm remarked. “Momentum is a huge thing, and it’s never over until it’s over.” It only takes one swing to change everything, and it can happen. You don’t have to play flawlessly.
“You don’t have to do anything extraordinary; all you have to do is play golf and beat the person in front of you.” If you simply have that aggressive mindset and just battle for every shot, you’ll definitely do great in match play.”
