'US Open Champ' Ram "Finishes 2021 as World No. 1"... Morikawa 'Number 2'

Yon Ram's 'Number 1 Power', Morikawa Struggles at Hero World Challenge 'Fails to Leap to 1st Place', Korea's Im Sung-jae Ranks 26th

[Asia Economy Golf Specialist Reporter Kim Hyun-jun] "World No. 1 in 2021."

It is Jon Rahm (Spain, photo), the ‘US Open champ.’ On the 21st (Korean time), he maintained his No. 1 position by earning 9.51 points in the weekly official golf world rankings. He turned professional in 2016 and immediately won the PGA Tour Farmers Insurance Open in January 2017. He also won the CareerBuilder Challenge in January 2018, the Zurich Classic in April 2019, and especially last July, he won the Memorial Tournament, becoming Spain’s No. 1 for the first time in 31 years since Seve Ballesteros in 1989.

In the 2020 season, Rahm entered the top 10 ten times in 17 tournaments. On the third day of the Memorial Tournament in June, where he was defending his title, he surged with an 8-under-par round to take a six-shot lead but had to withdraw after testing positive for COVID-19, showing that luck was not on his side. However, Torrey Pines, the battleground of the June US Open, ultimately became his ‘promised land.’ On the final day, he shot 4-under-par to clinch a one-shot come-from-behind victory, marking his first major championship win with special significance.

His second place at the Tour Championship, the final third playoff event in September, left some regret. Among 30 participants, he recorded the best 14-under-par but could not overcome the ‘stroke bonus’ barrier. Rahm started as the 4th seed (7-under-par) and finished with a total of 20-under-par, while the 1st seed (10-under-par) Patrick Cantlay added 11-under-par to reach a one-shot victory (21-under-par). The season will resume at the Sentry Tournament starting January 6 next year.

It is interesting that Collin Morikawa missed his chance to surge to first place at the last moment. This happened at the Hero World Challenge, a special event that ended on the 6th. Starting the final day with a five-shot lead, he lost the win after a ‘4-over-par rollercoaster play’ and dropped to a tie for 5th. Dustin Johnson finished 3rd, Cantlay 4th, and Xander Schauffele (all from the USA), the ‘Tokyo Olympics gold medalist,’ were in the ‘top 5.’ Korea had three players in the ‘top 100’: Im Sung-jae (23), the ‘Shriners Champion,’ at 26th, Kim Si-woo (26) at 52nd, and Lee Kyoung-hoon (30) at 63rd.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.