Masters champion Jon Rahm admits he only has himself to blame for not being able to deny Rory McIlroy a fifth Race to Dubai title in the final event of the season.
McIlroy was assured of topping the money list when Adrian Meronk and Ryan Fox failed to earn enough points in last week’s Nedbank Golf Challenge to get within 2,000 points of the world number two.
Only 2,000 points are on offer for the winner of the season-ending DP World Tour Championship and McIlroy was already 2,082.53 ahead of nearest rival Rahm, who chose not to compete in Sun City.
Rahm has previously contested just two regular DP World Tour events in 2023, the Ryder Cup counts as a third and this week’s title defence in Dubai therefore fulfils the minimum requirements for DP World Tour membership.
Rahm admitted it was disappointing for fans that the Race to Dubai had already been settled, but admitted: “At the same time, though, it’s mainly my fault.
“He (McIlroy) played great golf. I could have tried to go to Nedbank and get a few more points to give myself a chance this week. He did what he needed to do and I didn’t.”
Despite not having the chance to win the Race to Dubai for a second time, Rahm still prefers the DP World Tour’s format to that of the PGA Tour, which employs a controversial handicap system in the FedEx Cup.
The player who earns the most points throughout the year begins the season-ending Tour Championship on 10 under par, the second-highest on eight under and so on, on a sliding scale down to the players in 26th to 30th who start on level par.
“I’m not a big fan of the FedEx Cup finals. I’ve said that many times,” Rahm added. “It’s the only sport when you get to the finals, you give somebody an advantage.
“You don’t see whoever had a better record in the Champions League finals start with a 1-0 goal advantage, that just doesn’t happen.
“I would be a bigger fan of somehow point restructuring to where if you win the tournament, like it used to be with the top five going to East Lake, if they won (the Tour Championship) they would win the FedEx Cup.
“At the same time, if you play as good as Rory has and you’ve built up the lead, you’ve earned it. Like I said earlier, I had the option of playing more events, tournaments and trying to earn more points. I just didn’t.
“I think this format is more fair to the better player, whoever played better throughout the year. I think the one that they have in the FedEx Cup right now would be probably more exciting for the viewers. Obviously it all depends what you prefer.”
Rahm has a remarkable record in the DP World Tour Championship, winning it on his debut in 2017 and again in 2019 and 2022, with his worst finish in four appearances being a tie for fourth in 2018.
“It’s something I look forward to and to me it’s a great way to end the year,” Rahm said. “One last competition before we get to the holiday season and kind of get our mind off golf for a little bit. Hopefully I can win it one more time.
“I couldn’t really pinpoint one thing why I’ve had success here. I’m sure the number people can tell you why statistically I’m better, but I think I just happened to play really good on the weeks that I’m here.”
A closer look at the hot streak of world number one Scottie Scheffler
Scottie Scheffler claimed his fourth win in five events on Monday when the weather-delayed RBC Heritage concluded at Hilton Head.
That run includes a second Masters title and has seen the world number one extend his sizeable lead over Rory McIlroy at the top of the rankings.
Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the facts and figures around Scheffler’s streak and how they compare to previous runs.
What makes Scheffler’s streak so impressive?Winning any event on the PGA Tour is difficult, but Scheffler has claimed two of the biggest in the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship, a major championship at Augusta National and the RBC Heritage, which boasted a stronger than usual field after being elevated to a Signature Event this season. Victory at Sawgrass made Scheffler the first player ever to win back-to-back Players titles. His only “failure” was a tie for second in the Houston Open.
Has this been done before?Scheffler is the first player to win four times in five starts on the PGA Tour since Tiger Woods, who did so at the end of 2007 and again to start 2008. He is also the third player in the last 30 years – after Woods and Vijay Singh (2004) – to win or finish runner-up in five consecutive starts on the PGA Tour. With many players taking a break after winning a major, Scheffler is also the first to win a PGA Tour event the week after claiming a green jacket since Bernhard Langer in 1985.
How much has Scheffler earned?Scheffler has banked an average of £3.17million for each of his four victories and “only” £448,000 for his five-way tie for second behind Stephan Jaeger in the Houston Open. The total sum of £13.14m would place Scheffler 145th on the PGA Tour’s career earnings list and he is closing in on the single-season record of £17million he set last year. In comparison, Woods won nine times on the PGA Tour in 2000, including three major titles, and never finished worse than 23rd in 20 starts. His prize money totalled £7.4m.
Does the world ranking reflect Scheffler’s dominance?In a word, yes. Ahead of the Genesis Invitational in mid-February, Rory McIlroy could have become world number one by winning at Riviera with Scheffler finishing third or worse. Now, Scheffler has more than double the total and average points of McIlroy, while the average points gap between the top two (7.6493) is bigger than that between McIlroy and the players tied for 4,123st in the standings.
So is Scheffler the most dominant player in world golf?Not quite. Hours before Scheffler completed his victory in Hilton Head, fellow American Nelly Korda had wrapped up a fifth consecutive win on the LPGA Tour by claiming her second major title in the Chevron Championship. Korda’s winning streak matches that of Nancy Lopez in 1978 and Annika Sorenstam in 2004-05, although her bid for an unprecedented sixth straight win will have to wait after she cited exhaustion when pulling out of this week’s event in Los Angeles. While Scheffler has earned £13.14m from his last five events, Korda’s five wins have been worth £1.94m.
Scottie Scheffler matches Tiger Woods achievement with fourth win in five
Masters champion Scottie Scheffler hailed his mental strength after making it four wins in five starts with a rain-delayed victory at the RBC Heritage.
Scheffler returned to Hilton Head on Monday morning holding a five-stroke lead with three holes to play after a storm halted proceedings on Sunday.
The world number one dropped a shot at the last to finish 19 under par, three shots ahead of fellow American Sahith Theegala, with Patrick Cantlay and Wyndham Clark another stroke back.
Scheffler is the first player to win a PGA Tour event the week after claiming the Green Jacket since Bernhard Langer in 1985 and the first to win four times in five starts on the US-based circuit since Tiger Woods in 2007-08.
Each of Scheffler’s last seven wins have come with at least eight of the world’s top 10 in the field and he is the third player in the last 30 years – after Woods and Vijay Singh – to win or finish runner-up in five consecutive starts on the PGA Tour.
“I was able to go home for a couple days and celebrate,” Scheffler said.
“I didn’t really put much thought into it. I had committed to playing the tournament here, it was part of the plan, so we stuck to the plan.
“I talked about it at the beginning of the week – I didn’t show up here just to have some sort of ceremony and have people tell me congratulations. I came here with a purpose, got off to a slow start but after that played some really nice golf.
“I do have fairly high expectations for myself and when I show up at tournaments, I try to do my best.
“I’ve talked a lot about kind of the preparation and what it takes for me to show up on a first tee ready to go, and I feel like I’ve been putting in the work and been playing some good golf, and it’s nice to be seeing some results for that with wins.
“On the course, I think the last month or so I’ve been as good mentally as I have in a long time and I think that’s why I am seeing some of the results.
“This week could be a good example of starting off and looking at the leaderboard on Thursday and everybody is just making birdie after birdie and I’m sitting there over par and I’ve had a shank on the day.
“I just did my best to stay patient and wait until I got hot.
“Had a nice finish to the round on Thursday and then had a really solid Friday where I felt like I played better than I scored, and then I had Saturday where I just played some really good golf.”
Rory McIlroy carded a final-round 74 to slip into a tie for 33rd.
Scottie Scheffler five strokes ahead with weather forcing a Monday finish
Scottie Scheffler has a five stroke lead with just three holes to play after rain halted play in the RBC Heritage on Sunday.
The US Open champion and world number one continued his great form at Hilton Head in South Carolina on the fourth day of the tournament, hitting an eagle and two birdies across 15 holes.
A storm stopped play for two and a half hours with darkness forcing a finish on Monday.
Fellow American Wyndham Clark had a strong day through his 18 holes, moving into second place with eight birdies and an eagle, but two bogeys and a double bogey stopped him from further encroaching on Scheffler’s lead.
Clark is tied with American’s Patrick Cantlay and J T Poston, who have one hole left to play and Sahith Theegala, who has three holes left to play.
Scheffler is looking for his fourth win in five starts.
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