2020 Tour Championship: Top 10 power rankings at East Lake
How was that for a way to win a golf tournament? What Jon Rahm did to win the BMW Championship was spectacular stuff.
It appeared that the biggest memory of him at Olympia Fields was going to be his blunder in round three. He absentmindedly picked up his ball on the green without marking it, resulting in a one-shot penalty.
In spite of it, he still shot an impressive 4-under 66 given the firm and fast conditions. Rahm credited the lapse as a wake-up call. He needed a day like that to get back in it after he opened with 75-71 to sit seven off the pace.
An even more impressive round came Sunday when he surged up the leaderboard with a bogey-free 64.
It took a 43’ 3” putt from Dustin Johnson to force Rahm to have to win it in a playoff. The Spaniard then pulled off dramatics of his own, rolling it in from 66’5”.
Johnson almost took it to another level of bananas when he left his 32’ 10” try five inches from the hole to extend the playoff.
The win was his second of the season. The other was a romp at the Memorial Tournament in July.
He’s in the FedEx Cup hunt also because of a T-6th at The Northern Trust. The regular season also included solo second at Torrey Pines, T-3rd at the WGC-Mexico, and T-13th at the PGA Championship.
Rahm didn’t quite overtake DJ for world No. 1 with the win, but he could do so with a good week this week. Note: the OWGR is using its own straight stroke play leaderboard, not the PGA Tour’s, to dole out ranking points this week.
The former Arizona State Sun Devil had his whole game working at the BMA. He was 13th or better in every strokes gained category as well as 13th in driving accuracy. That last stat will be key if he can keep it up on another tight course.
The big hitter is a great fit for East Lake’s length. He can take the driver out of the bag often and ranks fourth on the season in SG off the tee (.782 per round). Rahm also leads the tour in total SG (1.873).
Three Tour Championship appearances have landed him between seventh and 13th. I’m confident that will change for the better in 2020.