Data showing Rahm’s superiority over others in Dubai

This Thursday is the last tournament of Racing in Dubaihe DP World Tour Championship within World Course of Jumeirah Golf Estates. And he does it with five Spaniards in this Dubai Final. Oh Jon Rahmto take part in the final match of the day with Rory McIlroy (9.45 Spanish time (Movistar Golf); JOrge Campilloplaying with Viktor Hovland, Pablo Larrazabal, Adrian Otaegui and Nacho Elvira.

Campillo is trying to secure his PGA Tour card, while the other three are chasing the same goal, as well as finishing in the top 30 and guaranteeing their presence in the next British Open at Royal Troon (Scotland). We should also highlight four world top 10s, eight top 25s and twelve top 50s.

Looking ahead to 2023, Jon and Rory have played 41 tournaments, with six wins, thirteen top 3 finishes and 24 top 10s. In Grand Slams alone, Rahm has won the Masters, finished second in the Open and tenth in the US Open, while McIlroy was second in the US Open, sixth in the Open and seventh in the PGA.

After winning the DP World Tour Championship and winning his fifth title in Rolex series Last season, Jon Rahm kept that form going with another impressive year. In his two-stroke victory over Tyrrell Hatton and Alex Noren 12 months ago in Jumeirah, the Spaniard won the tournament for the third time in four appearances. An impressive feat when you consider the caliber of players competing in the season-ending event of the DP World Tour on the Earth Course.

Since winning three world titles in 2017 – his first full year as a professional – Rahm has set the bar high for what he can achieve. Because of this, perhaps for that reason alone, some questioned his game after a spectacular 2021 in which he won his first ‘major’ (US Open) and topped the world rankings for half a year.

However, three world victories – each on a different continent – last year is not a bad performance. Following his victories in Mexico on the PGA Tour and the Spanish Open on the European Tour, which allowed him to equal Seve Ballesteros’ mark of three national Opens, Rahm has maintained his momentum from Dubai to 2023.

In his first five starts of the new year on the PGA Tour, he won three times. The last of them, at the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles, returned him to world number one. But in a sport where Grand Slams define careers, Rahm knows that adding a second to his US Open victory in 2021 is his biggest goal. He said it himself last year while thinking about what he needs to improve on.

“Definitely playing better in the majors. I’ve won one. I want to get the second, for sure.” Well, that’s exactly what Rahm got when the first ‘big one’ of 2023 came around. On what would have been his hero Seve Ballesteros’ 66th birthday, he got his first Green Jacket.

His fourth trophy of the year was soon to come, as he finished second in his title defense in Mexico, and won the 40th and 63rd in majors history, and the first at Royal Liverpool .

But maybe it was his performance in the European team Ryder Cup – two weeks after placing fourth in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth – suggests another victory is on the horizon. In his four games in Marco Simone Golf & Country ClubRahm remained unbeaten and gave the captain three points Luke Donald to help Europe regain the trophy.

Arriving back in Dubai, the statistics behind Rahm’s enviable record on the Earth Course are undeniable. In his 16 rounds at the DP World Tour Championship, his stroke average was 67.5 and he was 72 under par in the 288 holes he played on the Earth Course. Unsurprisingly, he proved to be superior for most of the time he was played.