Atlanta, GA …
European Tour ‘Rookie of the Year’ certainty Jon Rahm has set his sights on becoming only the second Spaniard after the late, great Seve Ballesteros to capture the European Tour No. 1 crown.
Ballesteros won the then named ‘European Tour Order of Merit’ title on six occasions (1976 – 78, 1986, 1988 and 1991).
And in the intervening 26-years no Spainard, including double Masters winning Jose Maria Olazabal or current Masters champion Sergio Garcia, has managed to duplicate Seve’s effort.
With nine events, including this week’s Portugal Masters, remaining on the 2017 Race to Dubai schedule Rahm is lying third and trailing Euro 38,000 behind compatriot Garcia but also One Million and 10 Euro adrift of the front-running Tommy Fleetwood.
Seve Ballesteros – a six-time European No. 1 and still the only Spaniard to become No. 1 in Europe.
“It would something outstanding, something beyond belief, but in Europe it would be a little more special just because the last Spaniard to be No. 1 in Europe was Seve Ballesteros,” said Rahm.
“Not Sergio, not Olazabal have been able to do it.
“So if I ever get to do it, it will be a really special moment. But if I get to do it in my rookie year, yeah, that’ll be — I mean, I can’t explain it. I can’t explain what winning any of this will feel because it’s something so different than what we play for usually.
“And as a rookie, just I can’t — to be honest, I still can’t fathom winning any of those things because it’s so, so special.”
However, Rahm confirmed on the eve of the Tour Championship he will commit to just three of the eight remaining eight European Tour events he could enter.
Jon Rahm looking to emmulate the late, great Seve Ballesteros. (Photo – www.golfbytourmiss.com)
Rahm indicated he will assess his Race to Dubai standing following next month’s WGC – HSBC Champions event in Shanghai before committing to either of the closing three Rolex Series events.
Rahm indicated he would certainly contest three Race to Dubai events in succession:-
Italian Open – October 11 to 15
Andalucia Valderrama Masters – Oct 19 to 22
WGC – HSBC Champions – Oct 26 to 29
So, depending on his money-list standing following the trio of events he will decide if he will committ to the closing three and they include November 2nd to 5th Turkish Airlines Open, November 9th to 12th Nedbank Golf Challenge and the season-ending November 16th to 19th DP World Tour Championship.
The Spanish-sensation, who only turned pro in June 2016, enters this week’s PGA Tour season-ending Tour Championship lying fifth on the FedEx Cup standings and in position to become only the second European since Henrik Stenson in 2013 to win the Tour Championship/FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai victory double.
If successful, Rahm would pocked $US 1.5m in winning the Tour Championship and an additional $US 10m as the FedEx Cup winner.
And Rahm, who is also the highest-ranked European on the World Ranking at No. 5, was quizzed if he could recall what he may have been doing 12 months ago.
“I was watching it on TV I remember, yeah. I remember watching the whole final round and see how everything happened,” he said.
“But I mean once I got my Tour membership, one of the goals for the whole year that I set up was making it to the Tour Championship. I knew there weren’t many rookies up until this year that had made it.
“To this year, I mean there were like nine, and there’s what, two, three, four of us that have made it this year as rookies, so that’s really impressive honestly. You know, whatever I’ve been able to accomplish on the way to add up to what I’ve done, and just making it here obviously for anybody I think it’s a good accomplishment.
“It shows you’ve played really good golf all year long and you have the prize to play one more week.
“And if you play good, hopefully end with a pretty sweet trophy or two trophies if you’re lucky enough”.
