PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Jon Rahm’s reign as World No. 1 could be in jeopardy this week.
While the Spaniard, who has held the top spot since the British Open in July, is taking the week off, World No. 2 Collin Morikawa and No. 3 Viktor Hovland are in the field at this week’s Valspar Championship and could unseat Rahm at the top of the Official World Golf Ranking. When Morikawa was asked if he knew the scenarios that would elevate him to No. 1, he answered no.
“I assume if I win I’ll get there,” Morikawa said.
That would be correct. A decade ago, Luke Donald, the 15th man to achieve No. 1, did just that to return to the top of the mountain, winning a playoff. Morikawa also could finish second or even in a three-way tie for second this week as long as Hovland, who must win to become the second-youngest to reach No. 1, isn’t the one hoisting the trophy on Sunday.
“I think the biggest thing for me is just I need to focus on the golf course. I say that every time, but there have been times where thinking about World No. 1, thinking about this and things that I should do and I just need to get back to playing the way I know I can play,” Morikawa said.
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What would it mean to him to be able to say that a complex mathematical formula that weights tournaments played over the last two years on a sliding scale, so recent performances carry greater importance, and based on strength of field spit out his name as the best?
“It would be huge,” Morikawa said. “It would be definitely a part of my career that I would remember, but I want to stay there as well.”
Ever since its founding in 1986, only 24 players have been able to boast that they are No. 1, with Tiger Woods spending a record 281 consecutive weeks and 683 total weeks at the top of the heap, while Tom Lehman had the shortest stint, a single week in 1987. With each passing year, the title of being called World No. 1 has grown in stature. It’s something that players log on to the web site (owgr.com) on Monday morning to see where they stand.
“I think it’s a good marker, but nothing to get caught up in day-to-day,” said Patrick Cantlay, the World No. 4.
But Brooks Koepka, a former No. 1, at the WM Phoenix Open said that it was “embarrassing” to be No. 20. (Wonder how he feels about dropping to No. 21.) It was a sentiment echoed by another one-time top dog, Justin Thomas, who is No. 8 in the world, on Wednesday during his pre-tournament press conference.
“To be perfectly honest, it pisses me off where I am in the World Ranking. But it just goes to show the level of golf that’s being played. I clearly have not won very many golf tournaments in the last two years, year and a half, at least, from other parts of my career, but I’ve played some pretty damn good golf and it’s just, if you’re not winning tournaments you’re getting lapped right now and that’s just the way that it is,” said Thomas, who has spent a grand total of five weeks at No. 1.
He improved to No. 2 a year ago when he won the Players Championship but hasn’t added to his victory total and has slid back six spots entering the Valspar Championship.
“And that’s a good thing for the game of golf. Having Patrick Cantlay do what he did last year pushes me to become better and having Collin Morikawa and Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland play as good as they are and be in contention in all the majors and win the biggest golf tournaments, I mean, yeah, selfishly and the jealous side of me wants that to be me. So, it gets me working harder because your main goal is to have no names above you in the World Ranking and I definitely have more ahead of me than I would like,” said Thomas.
He last claimed the top spot when he won the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in July 2020 but he reigned for all of one week.
“It’s never something that I won’t want to have and won’t be trying to get to if I’m not there,” he said. “The thing about that is it’s not about getting there, it’s about how long can you stay there; there’s only a small amount of people who have held it for a long amount of time, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
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