Defending Masters champion Jon Rahm isn’t buying his current world ranking of 80th. The Spanish star insists he’s still one of golf’s top 10 players, despite what the numbers say.
“Am I out of the top 100 yet?” Rahm joked when asked about his ranking. “A couple of weeks to go and I’ll be gone.”
The rankings drama stems from Rahm’s controversial move to LIV Golf last year, just eight months after winning his first Green Jacket at Augusta. LIV events don’t earn world ranking points – a hot topic that’s caused major headaches in professional golf.
But Rahm’s not sweating it this week. As a past Masters champion, he’s got a lifetime invite to golf’s most prestigious tournament.
This year’s Masters will feature 12 LIV Golf players, marking the third straight year the breakaway tour’s stars have competed at Augusta National. But getting into the tournament isn’t easy for LIV players – without ranking points, qualifying through the traditional top-50 route is nearly impossible.
“Undoubtedly consider myself a top 10 player in the world,” Rahm said. “But it’s hard to tell nowadays.”
Last year wasn’t Rahm’s best in the majors. His Masters defense ended with a disappointing tie for 45th after a rough final round 76. He missed the cut at the PGA Championship and had to skip the US Open with a foot injury.
But things started looking up when he finished tied for seventh at The Open Championship at Royal Troon. He followed that with a strong showing at the Olympics, tying for fifth.
“Feeling good. Feeling very good,” Rahm said about his chances this week. “I feel like I’m playing much better golf coming into this week.”
When asked about the divide between LIV and traditional tour players not competing against each other more often, Rahm stayed focused on the task at hand.
“As far as I can tell, it’s not happening anytime soon,” he said about a potential tour reconciliation. “I think all of our concerns should be on this week, and things outside of that we can let ourselves think about outside this week.”
