Jon Rahm play this week Farmers Insurance Open, a tournament that brings back great memories on a field, the On from Torrey Pines, which has undoubtedly become his authentic ‘promised land’. And not only because of the great successes he has achieved on the spectacular Californian course designed by William Bell overlooking the peaceful, on the outskirts of San Diego, but for the many special moments on a personal level that he has lived in this impressive setting.
Torrey Pines was, for example, the place to which Kelley Cahill, his wife and mother of his son Kepa, accompanied him for the first time to a tournament. It was also the scene in 2017 of his first victory in the PGA Tour, on a very special tour of the West Coast that will remain forever in the memory of the golfer of Barrel. And it was also the stage, a few years later and on his knees, in which the good guy Jon he asked marriage. Three unforgettable moments for the life of Rahm that surely will be remembering this week.
On a sporting level, Torrey Pines perhaps it is the golf course in which the Spanish champion has lived the best moments of his professional career. Five years ago, in a movie finale, pocketing an ‘impossible’ putt for eagle, he won the same tournament that has been held since tomorrow in what was his first victory in the PGA Tour. The video of his last hit and his celebration is perhaps one of the most iconic on the circuit in recent years.
Although on his next visit to the field he was unable to repeat his success (29th place tied), Jon did not take long to begin to show that his idyll with the tour of The jewel was going to give a lot to talk about: tied fifth in 2019, second in 2020 and tied seventh in 2021. However, the best was yet to come when, a few months later, the Barrel headed for the Californian coast to dispute the US Open…
There, at the end of June last year, Rahm raised the first major of his professional career. An absolute display of power, prevailing by a blow of advantage over Louis Oosthuizen, two about Harris English and three on Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa Y Guido Migliozzi, which soon catapulted him, a few days later, back to the throne of the world golf ranking. A Number 1 which it has occupied uninterruptedly ever since.
Some amazing data
With his victory in 2017 at the Farmers Insurance Open, Jon Rahm became the first player since Tiger Woods achieved it in 1999 in taking the trophy of Torrey Pines with an eagle on the 72nd hole and the first to win this event in his debut year since Arnold Palmer did it… in 1957! And four years later, it was the first since Tom Watson in 1982 to close his victory in the US Open with two birdies in his last two holes, becoming the first Spaniard to win the event.
Since 2017, the accumulated Jon Rahm at Farmers Insurance Open he is 51 under par, five shots better than the closest of his pursuers. But what has differentiated the Barrel of the rest of the players in this time? At Twenty First Group they dove into an ocean of data to find a statistical explanation for this love affair. Jon with the tour of San Diego. And their results were the most clairvoyant….
In the last five years, the North Course has been played one to two fewer strokes than the South Course and no player has taken as much advantage of it as Jon, who barely has five bogeys in five rounds with an average of 66.4 strokes, better than any player who has played at least four rounds in the tournament on this stage since 1990. That record allows him to enjoy an advantage over the average of its competitors by 20%. A fact that is based, in part, on his performance in par fours, with an average of 3.72 strokes, the third best record since 1990 among players with four or more rounds.
Unbeatable on the Torrey Pines South Course
Miss a fairway in the North Course of Torrey Pines it does not penalize excessively, however, the same cannot be said of the South Course. Only 14% of the time a fairway is missed, it ends up being birdie or eagle. A problem that has not affected either Rahm, with 63% of streets in the Farmers Insurance Open.
Since the debut of Rahm in the tournament in 2017, there are 122 players with six or more rounds played on the South Course during de Torrey Pines during the Farmers Insurance Open. Of that group, the Spaniard is the only player to average a completed shot won per round off the tee. Since 2004, when this statistic began to be recorded, the average Rahm is +1.07 strokes won per round, the second highest of any player with 12 or more rounds played. The also winner of the tournament Bubba Watson (2011) is the only player at Jon’s level in that regard, earning 1.33 tee shots per round in that time span.
More than 55% of the hits gained from Rahm on the South Course Torrey Pines come from his tee shots, the third-highest record of any player with 10 or more rounds in those five years. His skill off the tee has been especially beneficial on the par 4s, where Rahm he has won, on average, half a field shot with his shots per round. That’s the third highest rate on the South Course for that stretch, behind only Cameron Champ (+0.77) and Luke List (+0.55).
At the level of Tiger… but in a different way
Over the past 30 years, the players who have averaged the most birdies or better per round in the Farmers Insurance Open have been Tiger Woods (4.88) and Jon Rahm (4.60). It is no coincidence, therefore, that they are the same players who won the US Open in Torrey Pines in recent years, with the triumph of the Spaniard in 2021 and the unforgettable performance of the Californian in 2008 with a serious leg injury.
But the two champions have used different formulas to knock down the South Course. yes as we say Rahm use your driver to get advantage, Tiger he has only gained +0.34 strokes per round off the tee on this course since the data from ShotLink were available in 2004. That’s less than a third of what you get Jon in this section of the game.
Woods, however, has been unparalleled with his iron play on the South Course, where he averages a stellar +1.24 strokes earned record. Of players with 12 rounds or more since 2004, Tiger he is one of only five to average a full hit win per round in that stat.
Jon feels at home in Torrey Pines
Own Jon has taken it upon himself on several occasions to explain why he feels at home every time he plays in Torrey Pines and visit San Diego, a city that he loves, close to his habitual residence in Phoenix. The last one, just a week ago, when he was questioned about it in the preview of the American Express. “That coast reminds me a bit of my home, the climate is similar to that of my childhood and it is a golf course for those who hit the ball hard.”
“It’s a long course, you have to look for the fairways, the greens are small and you don’t always have short irons, so if you play well from tee to green, you have an advantage, and that’s one of my strengths. Those are the reasons why I have been able to play well and with such confidence in Torrey Pines“he explained Rahm, who also made it clear that having won the Farmers Insurance Open in 2017 and after US Open it reinforced his confidence even more every time he returns to this stage.
“The US Open it is, if not the most difficult, then one of the two or three most difficult that we play each year. Having played well in the conditions we had in January and February to do it again in June showed me that I am a versatile player and I can do it in different situations. When you play a course like Torrey Pines you have to get used to its firmness and the speed of the greens, with the rest I was already very familiar because I had played many times. I felt like I had a bit of an edge having played well there before,” he said.
This week, in what is possibly one of his favorite courses on the circuit, Rahm will remember the great moments you have lived in Torrey Pines in the last five years and will seek to reissue in his ‘promised land’ the triumph of 2017 with a putt for history: «You always dream of that spectacular finish to win a golf tournament and my first triumph was precisely like that, like a putt from 60 feet to eagle on an iconic course. A dream come true. So it influenced my confidence, increased even more by how everything happened, something unusual for a rookie.
