Jon Rahm is targeting a lengthy spell as world number one after openly admitting that reaching the summit was a sizeable goal which โsat on his brainโ during the coronavirus lockdown.
Rahm replaced Rory McIlroy at the top of the rankings following his victory in the Memorial Tournament, the 25-year-old becoming just the second Spanish player after Seve Ballesteros to achieve the feat.
McIlroy will regain top spot with a win in this weekโs WGC FedEx St Jude Invitational regardless of where his rivals finish, but Rahm is determined that will not transpire.
Jon Rahm = Best in the world 🌎
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) July 19, 2020
Rahmbo wins @MemorialGolf and moves to No. 1 in the world for the first time in his career! pic.twitter.com/7w7jwzjSxx
โItโs an honour (to be number one),โ Rahm told a pre-tournament press conference at TPC Southwind in Memphis.
โItโs something I set out to accomplish a long time ago and itโs humbling to be here knowing how hard Iโve worked to get to this point and to be the first Spaniard since Seve, knowing how some of the greatest golfers in history from Spain and Europe havenโt been able to get there.
โEven my close friend Phil (Mickelson), a five-time major champion wasnโt able to get there.
โIt is true some of those players had Tiger (Woods) at the time and no one was going to take that from him, but it doesnโt take away from what Iโve done myself.
โAt the same time, getting here is great and Iโve played great golf the last few years but I can only help to think that I need to keep playing that good or better to hopefully stay here for a long time.
โItโs what Iโve set out to be and thatโs a goal I think for a lot of us, trying to be consistently good and play good golf throughout our careers.
โItโs a goal accomplished and I think the only reason why Iโve gotten here this year (is that) Iโm a person that resets his goals every year and, even during quarantine, I wrote new ones and it was the first time when I stopped kidding myself and acknowledged that I wanted to be number one in the world.
โIโve heard many times how you have to pretend like every week is the same week, not give more importance to one week than the next and this and that, but I was kidding myself by not directly making it a goal.
โI just kind of verbalised it, put it out there and it just really sat on my brain and each day through quarantine it helped me have a light at the end of the tunnel.โ
While Woods spent a record 281 consecutive weeks as world number one between June 2005 and October 2010 and 683 in total, the top spot has changed hands far more frequently in recent years.
Since March 2016, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Justin Rose, Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy have all been ranked world number one and it is even mathematically possible โ albeit a long shot โ for McIlroy and Rahm to share top spot on Sunday evening.
โNowadays itโs really tough to determine one player (who is the best),โ Rahm added. โBrooks is having a hard year right now but he has won four majors in the last few years. Rory played amazing last year.
🎙 @MemorialGolf winner @JonRahmPGA speaks with the media @WGCFedEx.He has five top-10s in 10 starts this season. https://t.co/L1DfEvBUih
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 28, 2020
โItโs hard to dictate one player alone, but it would be foolish for me to say that Iโm not here thinking Iโm the best player.
โAnd I think all the great players who have got to this point believe they are the best and I think you have to try to prove that every week.โ