PGA Tour: The most dominant players of the West Coast Swing
By Bill Felber
Jon Rahm made five starts on the West Coast Swing, and although he never won he also never finished outside the top 10. As noted with respect to Schauffele, week-after-week consistency counts.
His efforts began at the Tournament Of Champions, where Rahm tied for eighth. With four rounds between 66 and 68, he was solo sixth at the Desert Classic, following that with a tie for fifth at the Farmers.
He tied for 10th at the Waste Management, and for ninth at the Genesis. In none of those five starts did he fail to beat the four-round stroke average by less than nine-tenths of a standard deviation.
He played 20 rounds on the winter tour with DeChambeau-like consistency: Nineteen of those 20 ended in scores between 66 and 72. The sole exception, for which he will not require absolution, was a 62 to open the Farmers.
The only thing he failed to accomplish was to pressure a leader. At the Farmers, he followed his 62 with a second round 72 that left him five strokes behind eventual champion Justin Rose. As the world’s top-ranked player, Rose is an unlikely candidate to cede ground willingly.
There is no such thing on tour as a sure bet, but speculating that Rahm is likely to be top 10 in his next tour stop is probably the closest thing to one. He hasn’t finished outside an event’s top 10 since October.