Jon Rahm: World Number One Withdraws From Players Championship
World number one, Jon Rahm, had to WD from this week’s PLAYERS Championship on Friday afternoon.
While headlines are being made on the course at this week’s Players Championship, one of the biggest stories of this year’s championship so far broke on Friday afternoon when world number one Jon Rahm announced that he was withdrawing from this year’s Players Championship due to illness.
FedExCup leader and World No. 1 Jon Rahm WD from THE PLAYERS Championship due to illness.
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) March 10, 2023
The surprise announcement was made just moments before Rahm was scheduled to tee off on Friday alongside the world’s number two and three-ranked players, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.
The 2021 U.S. Open winner has made a relentless charge back to the top of world rankings this year with three wins on tour in his last six starts. Prior to last week’s T39 result at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Jon Rahm was on a run of thirteen consecutive starts across the globe with no finish worse than a T16.
Jon Rahm opened with 71 on Thursday at the Players Championship.
The world number one has had mixed results at the Players Championship throughout his career so far, with his best result coming two years ago when he finished T9. Jon Rahm finished 55th at last year’s weather-impacted Players Championship.
The Spaniard had gotten off to a solid start at this year’s championship after firing an opening 71 one-under-par round on Thursday.
Rahm has had mixed results in Florida throughout his career but after opening with a 65 and the outright first-round lead at Bay Hill last week, it appeared as though the hottest player on the planet at the moment was well on his way to notching a fourth win in his last six starts.
Consecutive rounds of 76 over the next two days, however, ended his chances of contending for the title on Sunday which was eventually won by Kurt Kitayama in spectacular fashion.
Wins at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, The American Express, and the Genesis Invitational resulted in Jon Rahm reclaiming the top spot in the OWGR this year. A rank he had previously held at the end of 2021.
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Following his WD from this year’s Players Championship, Jon Rahm could surrender the world number one to either Scottie Scheffler or Rory McIlroy, if either player were to win this week at TPC Sawgrass.
The three-time winner on tour this season could next be seen in action at the last-ever WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship in Austin, Texas, in two weeks’ time.