Can Jon Rahm Close In On Top Ranked Scheffler At PGA Championship?

42 weeks, that’s how long Jon Rahm carried the World No. 1 Ranking before losing it to American Scottie Scheffler at the WGC-Dell Match Play.

That means that for almost an entire year there was no one on the planet that was more successful than the Spaniard. Now down a spot at No. 2 in the World rankings, Rahm is aiming to climb back into that top spot, but there’s one thing that he needs to continue to do first, and that is win. An aspect that surprisingly hasn’t been very friendly to Rahm so far but one that would make a huge difference if he can come away victorious at next weekend’s PGA Championship.

Up until a couple of weekends ago, Jon Rahm had not won a tournament yet this season, yet was able to keep the No. 1 ranking for quite some time. Finally, he won his first title at the inaugural Mexico Open held at Vidanta Vallarta, defeating Tony Finau & Co. by a single stroke.

This was Rahm’s 7th victory so far in his PGA career, with his most important career win of course coming at the 2021 U.S. Open last year when he beat out South African Louis Oosthuizen in California. For someone that turned professional in 2016 and held the No. 1 title for almost a full calendar year, many (including myself) would think that he would have more than 7 PGA Tour victories.

How Jon Rahm held the number one spot in the World for so long.

The reason for Jon Rahm’s continued success comes down to his consistency, as he seemingly always finds himself at the top of the leaderboard each week. This season, Rahm already has 5 top-10 and 8 top-25 finishes, which ranks him amongst the top-5 on Tour in those categories. Rahm continues to be the best on Tour in both Greens in Regulation (73.83) and Strokes Gained Tee to Green (1.808).

With these statistics, you once again would think that he would have managed more than just the one victory so far this year. Scottie Scheffler on the other hand has already recorded 4 wins thus far and that is a big reason why he holds the top spot in the World now.

However, Rahm’s recent victory at the Mexico Open will serve as a massive confidence booster heading into the PGA Championship, as you could tell by his emotions after just how much that win in Mexico meant to him and the state of his game moving forward.

"“I was confident in what I was doing, I had faith in every part of my game. A couple of those great par putts early on helped out a lot and the one putt from outside five feet that finally went in on 14 was a huge booster.” – Jon Rahm after win in Mexico"

Rahm remains 7th in the current FedEx Cup standings, slightly behind American Max Homa. With the way that he’s played these past few weeks don’t be surprised if Rahm creeps back into the top 5 very soon.

To accomplish that, he will need to continue to add on to that singular victory this season, as everyone in front of him (besides Patrick Cantlay) has at least 2 this season already. With plenty of vital tournaments ahead, the season is far from over and positions will surely flip back and forth multiple times in the coming weeks.