In 2016, when Jon Rahm was a fourth-year senior at Arizona State University and winning the Pac-12 Championship at the Country Club in Salt Lake City, he was also the #1 ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.
A position he held for total of 60 weeks, an all-time record.
He also won the Ben Hogan Award twice, in 2015 and 2016, symbolic of the best collegiate golfer in the land, an NCAA Regional Championship, and the Mark H. McCormack Medal as the leading player in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.
This immense talent, coupled with the fact he attended all four years of college in Phoenix, Arizona, winning 11 college golf tournaments, second all-time only to Phil Mickelson, fell in love and met his wife, elected to stay and call the area his American home, probably had a lot to do with his incredible success in college and amateur golf.
Those statistics and his past history of achievement, accompanied with his winning the 2020 Memorial Golf Tournament this past Sunday and earning the #1 ranking in Professional Golf, should come as no surprise to anyone paying attention.
With his win at Muirfield Village on the golf course Jack Nicklaus built in Dublin Ohio, and speeded up to approach Open Championship standards, Rahm becomes only the second Spaniard to reach #1 in the world, behind his hero Seve Ballesteros, the 10th European, and, at 25 years of age, becomes the 5th youngest player of all-time to be awarded this ranking behind, Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, and Justin Thomas.
And, with this victory, becomes only the fourth player in history to have a win in each of the last four seasons on the PGA Tour, joining Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, and Bryson DeChambeau.
Given his drive, fortitude, talent, and the burning desire to be the best in the world, his stay atop the world rankings might just be for awhile.
Please listen in as I join the Champions press conference at the conclusion of Jon Rahm’s historic win this past Sunday.
Please Listen Here.
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