Is Jon Rahm now chasing … Tiger Woods? ‘To an extent, yes,’ he says

“You’ve won five starts in nine around the world. As much as you’re competing against Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, how much are you chasing Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer?”

The query was expertfully requested on Thursday, on stay TV, by Golf Channel’s Damon Hack. Things have progressed to that stage with Jon Rahm, haven’t they? Yeah they kinda have. 

But earlier than attending to the Spaniard’s reply — and it’s notable — let’s rapidly assessment. (We’ll belief that you already know Tiger and Jack and Arnie.) 

— There are the 5 wins: the Open de Espana in October, the DP World Tour Championship in November, the Sentry Tournament of Champions and American Express in January, and the Genesis Invitational two weeks in the past. That’s a .555 profitable share. 

— There are his finishes within the different 4 tournaments over the nine-start stretch Hack had talked about: a tie for fourth on the CJ Cup, a tie for eighth on the Hero World Challenge, a tie for seventh on the Farmers Insurance Open, a 3rd on the WM Phoenix Open. If you need to toss on his tie for second on the BMW PGA Championship final September, he’s not completed outdoors of the highest eight since final August’s Tour Championship. 

— There are his Strokes Gained metrics on the PGA Tour this season. He isn’t any worse than twenty second in any class: first in SG: Total; third in Tee to Green; seventh in Off the Tee; sixth in Approach the Green; twenty second in Around the Green; and ninth in Putting. 

— There’s his presence, his swagger, his ‘inevitably.’ Max Homa famous this after developing quick to Rahm on the Genesis. “Yes, he’s probably Thanos,” Homa mentioned, evaluating Rahm to the Marvel baddie. “He has a lot of the stones in his toolbox. He’s a tremendous golfer. He has zero weaknesses. He’s been this dude for a long time.”

And then there was Thursday. And magic. At Bay Hill, one of many Tour’s most tortuous tracks, he was three-under by means of 14 holes, he had hit his tee ball close to a tree on 15 after which: 

— Dropped a 35-footer for par. 

— Eagled the par-5 sixteenth by going: 310-yard fairway drive, 205-yard iron to 24 toes, putt. 

— Birdied the par-3 seventeenth after hitting to 2 toes, 7 inches, the closest of the day on the outlet. 

— Birdied the par-4 18th with an iron to five toes. That’s a four-under-over-three-hole end, and after a seven-under 65, he’s your chief by two by means of 18. 

That’s some run. Tiger-like. 

So you chasing him, Jon?

At “Tiger Woods” in Hack’s query, Rahm laughed. When the query was completed, he rubbed the left aspect of his beard together with his left. He stammered. At the least, the 28-year-old was lastly slowed, but it surely was one thing that he clearly has considered.  

“Ah, I’m trying to go day by day and then think about that, right,” he mentioned. “To an extent, sure.

“Once I’ve done what I’ve done — have three wins already — you can start thinking of some of the things Tiger did. I’m trying to do it for the first time at my age. He had done it about 12 or 13 times at this point, so I’m trying to get myself going. But yeah, there’s sometimes where even this early in the week, you put yourself in position to maybe start dreaming of some moments like that, and I certainly started the year thinking about it and did what I had to do. So, so far, I can’t really say much but still a long way to go.” 

His reply was humble (although it was somewhat unclear what mark he was referring to). Still, there’s one thing important there, proper?

Maybe the opposite query with Rahm is the place is that this all going? A Masters win? More? The majors are all quick approaching, and that’s the place we greatest knew Tiger and Jack and Arnie. And if Rahm outwardly says he’s dreaming of the chase — or mentioned one other means, he’s not backing down from historical past — nicely, then, we could possibly be in retailer for one thing memorable. 

Perhaps that is telling, too. In case you had been questioning if all that is attending to his head, we’ll go away with this trade, with one other group of reporters. 

“Five wins your last nine worldwide starts, all top-10 finishes. You were asked this week if you are clicking on all cylinders, can anybody beat you. And you said no. So the question is, right now, do you feel like you’re clicking on all cylinders?”

‘No.”

“What needs to improve?”

“Gosh, go through the round, and you’ll see plenty of mistakes,” Rahm mentioned. “I just took advantage of, let’s say, of minimizing mistakes and converted a couple situations into really good scores. But it can always be better. But it’s the first day. Ask me that on Sunday if I keep playing like this and I’ll probably change my answer.”

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Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his function, he is answerable for enhancing, writing and creating tales throughout the golf area. And when he’s not writing about methods to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native might be enjoying the sport, hitting the ball left, proper and quick, and consuming a chilly beer to clean away his rating. You can attain out to him about any of those subjects — his tales, his sport or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.