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One meter ninety for almost one hundred kilos, a giant with an unkempt beard who inspires fear - but with a kind smile - who always wins when he plays, or almost. The last six tournaments in which Jon Rahm participated, for all "Rahmbo" in homage to the character brought to the cinema by Sylvester Stallone, were the Open of Spain, the CJ Cup, the DP World Championship, the Hero Challenge, the Sentry in Hawaii and American Express in California.
The results: first, fourth, first, eighth, first, first. That is 4 wins and two Top10s in 6 tournaments. Something more than a feat in a sport where already lifting one trophy a year is considered an excellent result. Yet Jon Rahm did not become number 1 in the world.
Jon Rahm, situation
The fault lies with the system, which has just changed, which keeps the results of the last two years valid and which assigns points for each tournament taking into consideration the average ranking of the participants and the absolute value of the Tour to which the race belongs.
Something that a statistics professor understands, not a mere mortal, but which certainly penalizes tournaments outside America above all. And that Rahm has labeled with one word: "Ridiculous". He really doesn't like it: "Since last August I've returned to feeling like the best player in the world.
I've won four titles and yet I'm still behind." Rahm celebrated his second consecutive Pga Tour triumph at American Express last week. And from tomorrow he will immediately be back on the field at the Farmers Open, in Torrey Pines, where he had already won in 2017 and where, above all, in 2021 he won the Us Open.
The Spaniard could regain the top of the ranking, although a lot will depend on what McIlroy does in Dubai.
HIS STORY— Rahm is used to being the best. He has already been No. 1 for 43 weeks to which must be added the 60 as an amateur.
He was born in Barrika, near Bilbao, a small village overlooking the Bay of Biscay. He defines himself as stubborn as all the Basques. He attended college at Arizona State, now lives in Scottsdale with his American wife Kelley and their two sons Kepa, born in 2021, and Eneko, born last August.
A curiosity: rumors spread that the name of the eldest son was a tribute to Kepa Arrizabalaga, goalkeeper of Chelsea and former Athletic Bilbao of which Rahm is a big fan. In reality Kepa is a fairly common Basque name and he has a lot of roots with his country of origin.
That's where he started playing golf, when his dad gave him his first irons as a baby after watching Europe beat the United States in 1997 in Valderrama, southern Spain, the first time the Ryder Cup was held on the continent.
Rahm later said: "I played a lot of sports when I was younger. Football, tennis, canoeing. But in golf there was something different. Perhaps it was the endless hours at the driving range that made me who I am today. Golf offers you endless possibilities to surrender.
It begs you to surrender. Golf is stubborn, like me. It's a bad sport, he hits you and tells you to go play something else and never come back. But if you resist..." It's a question of effort and mentality. Rahm told the other day, after his latest success, who was one of his inspirations: "Kobe Bryant.
He was obsessed with his sport, just like me. His example taught me that work ethic beats talent every day of the week". With such a charged Rahm it is inevitable to think of Ryder in Rome at the end of September. A few months ago Europe seemed doomed.
Then McIlroy made it to No. 1 in the world rankings. And now here's him winning in series. It's too early to make predictions, but we can at least say that it's permissible to have positive thoughts. "Rahmbo" and Rory, maybe even Molinari and Migliozzi if they prove to be fit this summer. Europe is alive and promising.