John Rahm Is World's No. 1 Golfer After Memorial Tournament Win

Thanks to his win on Sunday at the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Ohio, John Rahm vaulted to No. 1 in world golf rankings for the first time in his career, supplanting Rory McIlroy.

Rahm’s three-shot victory at the Memorial, his fourth PGA Tour victory, caps an 18-month run that has seen the 25-year-old climbed up the world rankings thanks to 18 top-10 finishes. With the win bolstering him to the top, Rahm became the 24th player in history be to ranked No. 1 and is just the second Spaniard to hold the top spot, joining the late Seve Ballesteros.

John Rahm with shades of Tiger at the Memorial! pic.twitter.com/NH1dx8IeWY

— PointsBet Sportsbook (@PointsBetUSA) July 19, 2020

“Being a part of golf history with Seve, in any way, is unbelievable,” Rahm said after shooting a 75 to finish nine-under-par for the tournament. “It’s a pretty unique feeling I’m going to enjoy for a while.”

Tournament host Jack Nicklaus, who revealed earlier on Sunday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus in March, gave Rahm a fist-bump instead of the traditional post-victory handshake following the win.

Tiger Woods spent 683 weeks atop the Official World Golf Ranking since the system was created in 1986, by far the most of any golfer. Greg Norman (331) is second, followed by McIlroy (106), Nick Faldo (97) and Dustin Johnson (91).

Woods finished six-over-par for the tournament, the first PGA Tour event he has played in since mid-February.

“It was nice to get my feet wet and compete and play again,” Woods said. “I need to work on my putting a bit and clean that up. But as far as my swing, it felt good. Over all for my first week back, it was a lot of positives.”

The next time Woods will return to the links for an official Tour event will be at the PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco starting August 6.

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