OWGR: Jon Rahm wins again, still not No. 1 in world rankings

Jon Rahm won The American Express on Sunday for his fourth worldwide victory in his past six starts dating to his Spanish Open win in early October. He moved from sixth to fifth in the Official World Golf Ranking after that week.

On Monday, he jumped again … from fourth to third.

Rahm has been vocal about his displeasure for the new world ranking system, which somehow has failed to identify who has been the best player in the world for the last six months or so; that player is Rahm, not current No. 1 Rory McIlroy, who has one win since the end of the last PGA Tour season while playing just five times, albeit he’s not finished worse than fourth.

Even No. 2 Scottie Scheffler, who along with No. 5 Patrick Cantlay could’ve reached No. 1 with a win in Palm Springs, has gone T-7 (Sentry TOC) and T-11 (AmEx) to begin the new year; Rahm won both events.

“Body’s been feeling great. My swing’s been feeling really, really good. And it shows, right?” Rahm said Sunday. “Even when I’m saying I may not be as comfortable as I would like, I’m shooting 64s because everything is just firing when it needs to.”

There is good news on the OWGR front, though, as Rahm can reach No. 1 this week at Torrey Pines. According to Twitter’s OWGR guru, Nosferatu, Rahm likely needs a solo third or better.

There was little movement throughout the top 50. Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas traded spots, with Morikawa moving from ninth to eighth.

Victor Perez, fresh off his victory in Abu Dhabi, made the biggest leap on the first page of the rankings, rising from No. 111 to No. 63. Ben Griffin cracked the top 100 for the first time in his career, moving from No. 101 to No. 97.

And as for Tiger Woods, he’s now No. 1,274, equal with Englishman Joe Heraty, who plays mostly on the Mena and Asian Development tours.