2021 The Northern Trust: Top 10 power rankings at Liberty National

After a second bout with COVID-19 sidelined Jon Rahm in recent weeks, the world No. 1 is ready to return to action.

The last time we saw the Spaniard was at The Open. An opening 71 wounded his chance at a victory, but Rahm fought back admirably with three rounds in the 60s to climb to T-3rd.

He had a remarkable 2021 in the majors, taking T-5th at the Masters, T-8th at the PGA Championship and winning his first major in dramatic fashion at the U.S. Open.

The former Arizona State Sun Devil enters the week on a streak of three top-10s, as well as four in his last five starts.

Rahm also has experience at Liberty National. He shot 64-68-69-69 to finish just two back of winner Patrick Reed and one back of Abrahm Ancer. Rahm made double bogeys or worse that week and was T-3rd in the field in greens in regulation (76.39%).

“I do believe it favors the long hitter. The rough is not very, very thick,” Rahm was transcribed by ASAP Sports during the 2019 The Northern Trust. “We were pretty aggressive off the tee, and you start taking certain lines and hitting drivers everywhere, with a little bit of like a loose attitude knowing that if you miss a couple shots and still have a chance with the rough, it helps out.”

Rahm has one FedEx Cup Playoffs victory at the 2020 BMW Championship.

The 26-year-old is tops on the PGA Tour in total strokes gained (2.028). He’s a ball striking savant who can bully courses off the tee and has his irons dialed in. Rahm is 21st in driving distance (307.7) and, for a bomber, is an impressive 63rd (63.52%) in fairways hit.

He’s not good out of the rough, but like he said a couple years ago, that won’t be a big deal at Liberty National.