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Paolo UggettiESPN
TORREY PINES, Calif. — As Jon Rahm stands on the cusp of winning his third PGA Tour event in as many starts this year, he isn’t shying away from what could be a historic win at a course — Torrey Pines — where he’s had plenty of success.
“I’m aware very few people have been able to do this,” Rahm said. “I don’t take it for granted because who knows how long until one of those comes again.”
He has won four of his past six starts worldwide over the past three months and is the favorite in San Diego this week.
Should Rahm win at Torrey Pines this week — where he has won twice, including the 2021 U.S. Open — it would be the 19th time since 1997 that a player has won three straight PGA Tour events. Tiger Woods is responsible for 14 of those previous 18 occurrences.
By all accounts, no one is playing better golf than the 28-year-old Rahm, but he is still No. 3 on the Official World Golf Rankings after winning the American Express tournament last week and the Sentry Tournament of Champions two weeks before that.
A win or a top-3 finish this week at the Farmers Insurance Open would change that.
Torrey Pines suits Rahm and his left-to-right ball flight well, especially given how much the grown-out rough swallows up shots that miss the fairway. Rahm won his first PGA tour event here in 2017 where he had, as he put it Tuesday, the best driving week of his career. He’s hoping to replicate that again this week.
“I’m really comfortable over the ball right now,” Rahm said. “The confidence in my swing is pretty high.”
As Justin Thomas pointed out Tuesday, any course seems to set up well for Rahm given the way he has been hitting the ball.
“When you start driving it like he does, hitting irons like he does and then he gets just a halfway decent putting week,” Thomas said. “He’s going to be tough to beat.”