Waste Management Phoenix Open: Power ranking the top 10

Jon Rahm introduced himself to a lot of folks at the 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open. Those who keep up with the college game already knew at this point that the former Arizona State Sun Devil was a big talent. But he proved it in a big way when he came to TPC Scottsdale as a 20-year-old amateur. He fired 70-68-66-68 to contend throughout all 72 holes and finish just three off the winning score.

Rahm knew how to appeal to the crowd in honoring Pat Tillman by wearing his No. 42 ASU football jersey on the 16th hole. It’s a tradition he’s continued each year.

Now 24 and seemingly a vet on the PGA Tour, Rahm would be nowhere near a surprise winner like he would have been in 2015.

The Spaniard has three wins on both the European and PGA Tour and looks to be a European Ryder Cup member for the next decade plus.

Rahm’s known for his emotional volatility from hole-to-hole, but his tournament results have been pretty steady. He piled up 10 top-10s worldwide in 2018 and has three in a row on the PGA Tour to open 2019: T8 at the Tournament of Champions, solo sixth at the Desert Classic and T5 last week at the Farmers.

Back to the WMPO, Rahm did not play in 2016 and posted T16 and T11 the last two years. Rahm was in contention through 54 holes in 2018 before firing his first over par round at this event, which was only a 72. He’s otherwise been in red numbers.

Rahm fired a 65 at TPC Scottsdale in 2017. He can really go low (23rd in birdie average) when things are working well, kind of like what we saw in last week’s 62 at Torrey Pines’ North course.

Save for Phil, Rahm might have the most support this week in Arizona.

"“It’s always great. It’s always outstanding. Since the higher percentage of fans out here are ASU grads or they’re in the school, it really is amazing,” Rahm said in 2018. “Every time I go by, every hole, every single shot, I get cheers from someone from ASU and that’s always really helpful, it’s not something that we get every single week. So it’s great, when you miss a shot, you just have some, you remember how many people you have pulling for you. And when you’re playing good it makes it that much more fun. It just escalates everything to a whole level of joy. I almost wish every golf event was like this, but not every golf course is set up to have as many people as this one is.”"