Jon Rahm takes a dig at golf’s world rankings system as he admits he has ‘no idea’ on sport’s merger
Last updated:
Former World No.1 and 2023 Masters champion joined LIV 15 months ago and has fallen to 80th in the world rankings
Jon Rahm knows his worth. It’s hard not to when you’re a two-time Major Champion, the captain of the Callaway-sponsored Legion XIII LIV Golf team, and the most expensive signing in the history of professional golf.
It’s little wonder then that he pays next to no attention to his declining position in the Official World Golf Rankings.
“Am I out of the Top 100 yet?” he smiled while responding to a question about his current world ranking in his Masters press conference.
He’s 85th.
“Couple more weeks and I’ll be gone,” he quipped.
While Rahm refused to put an exact number on where he thinks he should rank in the world, he would “undoubtedly consider myself a top-10 player” before admitting “it’s hard to tell nowadays”.
- Can Jon Rahm win the Masters? Here’s what our Power Rankings say
- Xander Schauffele’s brutal self-assessment as Grand Slam bid resumes
The top 10 is a significant number for Rahm because he’s yet to finish outside of it in a LIV event since making that big-money move to the Saudi-backed Tour in December 2023. But those performances, which saw him pip Joaquin Niemman to the Individual Championship, mean nothing when it comes to the world rankings.
LIV players remain ineligible for points having failed in several attempts to be included before finally accepting defeat. That means the 30-year-old, who spent 52 weeks as World No.1, has been rapidly sliding down the rankings with the Majors and a handful of DP World Tour events now his only opportunity to accrue points.
While his T7 finish at The Open helped stem the decline, 2024 was a poor Major season by Rahm’s high standards, with a T45 at Augusta followed by a missed cut at the PGA Championship before a pre-tournament withdrawal with a toe injury at the US Open.
“Not my favorite major season last year,” he admitted at his Masters press conference. “I was very happy to finish up there at The Open on a very challenging week. At least set the tone hopefully for this year, and feel like I’m playing much better golf coming into this week.”
He certainly looks a lot more relaxed than he did last year when his title defence at The Masters was the first time the majority of the golfing world had seen him since his shock switch.
With little competitive golf under his belt and a host of duties to undertake, including hosting the Champions Dinner, it was perhaps inevitable that Rahm would fail to mount any form of a tilt on back-to-back Green Jackets. In fact, he was close to being in that dreaded position of missing the cut and then having to stay until Sunday evening to hang the Green Jacket on the next guy’s shoulders.
- What is Scottie Scheffler serving at the Champions Dinner?
- Which LIV players have qualified for The Masters?
He feels better prepped for a run at more Major glory in 2025, with his T9 finish at last week’s brutally tough LIV Golf Miami event ensuring his consistent form across their events continued.
“Consistency is something that I’ve always prided myself on. I think last year the state of my game was being unfairly judged based on how I played here and at the PGA compared to how I really played throughout the whole year,” the Spaniard said.
“While I understand why, I don’t think it was the most fair state of my game. Top 10 statistics is
something I’ve always prided myself on. Right before joining LIV, I think I was still close to 50 percent worldwide in all my starts finishing top 10 and to keep it going that way is not easy.
“Now, I would say I would definitely trade a few of those – take a few of them away and hopefully add a couple more W’s. That would be nice because not in all of them I had a chance to win, and at the end of the day.”
This week provides a good opportunity for the world to see what Rahm and his fellow LIV players’ form means as they go head-to-head with their former PGA Tour and DP World Tour colleagues for the first time since last July. But how close are we to seeing that on a more regular basis?
Unfortunately, despite his lofty status on LIV, it seems Jon Rahm is no closer to knowing than any of us.
“I mean, I think we all would like to see that. But as far as I can tell and you guys can tell, it’s not
happening anytime soon. I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about that, especially having a week like this one. 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.
“We don’t know. No one knows. We all want a solution, and it’s hard to give one.”
Perhaps a victory for Rahm or one of his LIV colleagues at the holy grail of golf this week would help speed things along.
-
Jon Rahm aimed a dig at golf's world ranking system during his 2025 Masters press conference.
-
Jon Rahm in action at LIV Golf Miami 2025.
