Golf in 2023 is packed with big money tournaments

To counter the Saudibacked LIV Golf Tour, the PGA Tour and others are increasing the prize money stakes

- Meraj Shah

If you took world number five Jon Rahm's last 20 rounds of golf, fed them into the World Handicap System, and averaged out his eight best rounds, then you'd get a handicap differential of -13.1875. That takes Rahm's current handicap index to +13 (13-under-par). Just mull over that for a moment. That means, hypothetically, 18-handicappers would get 31 strokes from Rahm over 18 holes, and still stand little chance of beating the Spaniard.

That gobsmacking statistic is the most revealing indicator of Rahm's otherworldly quality of play recently. In this period, he's won three of the last six events he's teed it up at, including comprehensive wins at the DP World Tour Championship and the Spanish Open. But the most emphatic assertion of dominance came earlier this month, when Rahm overhauled Collin Morikawa's six-stroke lead on the final day of the Sentry Tournament of Champions to win by two strokes. There's little room for debate here: Jon Rahm is the best player in the world.

No one can accuse the Spaniard of being modest: "Had they not changed the world ranking points (system) I would have been pretty close (to world No. 1) right now. But in my mind, I feel like since August (2022) I've been the best player in the world," he said after his win in Hawaii. The world rankings system had been revamped in 2021 to prioritize depth of field rather than the ranks of players involved; Rahm had described the move as 'laughable.' Rankings apart, it was Rahm who laughed all the way to the bank after his win in Hawaii, pocketing, brace for it, $2.7 million of the $15 million tournament purse.