For G-Mac, it all started at the workingman’s club

Welcome to Numbers to Know, where we will dive into Jon Rahm’s triumph at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. Rahm survived a tough Sunday to claim his fourth PGA TOUR win and moved to world No. 1 as a result. 1. MASTER CLASS: Rahm outperformed the field by +3.866 strokes per round from tee to green at Muirfield Village on the way to his win. It was the best Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green performance of his PGA TOUR career. The only other time he averaged over three strokes gained per round in a tournament from tee to green was the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open which he also won. Rahm is also the first player this season to gain over 15 total strokes (+15.46) from tee to green in a PGA TOUR event. 2. WINNING AS A HABIT: Rahm became just the fourth player to win at least once in each of the last four seasons on the PGA TOUR. He joined Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau with this honor. Technically, since Rahm got his card through the non-member FedExCup points list in 2015-16 where he played nine times, twice as an amateur, he has not won on each of his seasons on TOUR. However, in those nine starts he had three top 10s including a T3 at the 2016 Quicken Loans National and a T2 at the 2016 RBC Canadian Open. 3. NUMERO UNO: Rahm moved to eighth in the FedExCup standings, setting himself up for a run at the Wyndham Rewards title and the FedExCup itself. He would become the first Spanish player to win either of those titles should he do so. But the win at the Memorial Tournament also jettisoned him to world No. 1 at just 25 years of age. He is the fifth youngest player to reach world No. 1 and just the second Spanish player behind Seve Ballesteros. Rahm is the 24th player in history to be world No. 1 (the official rankings began in 1986). 4. BACK-NINE BANDIT: The back nine at Muirfield Village is the tougher of the two sides. At the conclusion of the tournament the front side scoring average was 36.831 (+.831 over par) while the back played to a 37.351 (+1.351 over par). Rahm’s win was helped by his stellar play on the tough side through the first three rounds. At the 54-hole mark Rahm was 9-under on Nos. 10-18, three shots better than Carlos Ortiz and at least four shots better than the rest of the field, including Ryan Palmer (-5) who would be his main rival for the title. Rahm had 10 birdies and just a lone bogey on the stretch in the opening three rounds. On Sunday, however, he shot 41 on that side of the course, helped by a two-shot penalty on the 16th hole. As such he was the first winner to shoot 41 on the back nine in the final round of an event on TOUR in the last 37 years (official events). He still finished the tournament as one of the best players on that stretch at a 4 under total, beaten only by Palmer (-5) and Matt Wallace (-5). 5. REGULAR SEASON RACE HEATS UP: With just four weeks to go before the FedExCup Playoffs begin Rahm made a huge step forward in the Wyndham Rewards race. He is no stranger to the bonus system for those in the regular season top 10, having finished 10th last season. But Rahm is one of just three of last season’s top 10 who are currently trending to be there again this season. Webb Simpson (second), Rory McIlroy (fifth) and Rahm (eighth) are well placed particularly given that last season, eight of the final top 10 in the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 were already inside the cut off with four weeks remaining in the regular season. Since 2009, only two players have been outside the top 25 of the FedExCup standings with four weeks to go and went onto finish the Regular Season inside the top 10 . Y.E. Yang did so in 2009 by moving from 28th to seventh and Simpson made a late run last year going from 26th to ninth. In the last 11 PGA TOUR seasons, McIlroy is the only player to finish first in the final regular season standings after being outside the top-three of the FedExCup standings with four weeks to go (he was 11th). Since 2009, with four weeks left, 22 players started outside the top-10 and played their way into the final top 10 of the regular season standings (most in a season is three in 2010, 2013 and 2014).

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LAS VEGAS – Jack Trent makes sure you know he’s not stalking Adam Scott. Sure, like Scott, he’s an Australian from the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. Sure, he followed in Scott’s footsteps by playing at the same home course, attending the same school as a kid, and ending up at the same college as the 13-time PGA TOUR winner. Sure, he used to study YouTube videos of Scott’s swing religiously as a youngster and try to replicate the smooth rhythmic moves. And sure he tried to build his golf game, and his demeanor, around his idol. “I’m not a stalker, I swear,â€� the 20-year-old laughed after meeting Scott inside the ropes at TPC Summerlin in the lead up to the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. You see, Trent and Scott having something else in common this week: they’ll both be making their tournament debut. Amazingly, Scott has never played the tournament despite his cameo time at University of Nevada-Las Vegas in the 1999 and 2000 college seasons before he turned pro. Trent, now a junior at UNLV, won the Southern Highlands Collegiate tournament earlier this year to earn a sponsor invite into the field where he will make his PGA TOUR debut. Clearly, Trent was already excited about the prospect of playing on the big stage when, during a gym workout last week, his phone rang. A strange number popped up he didn’t know. He contemplated not answering but then pushed the green button. “Hi. It’s Adam Scott. Is that Jack?â€� Trent heard. “How would you like to play a practice round together at the tournament?â€� After the initial shock wore off, Trent agreed and the pair officially met on Tuesday at TPC Summerlin. “I met him in the lunchroom and it wasn’t like real,â€� a wide-eyed Trent said. “It was pretty cool. I asked for his signature when I was 10 years old, so to be in this position right now feels a little surreal. “He’s really cool and chill and it felt natural. Felt like I had already met him before. We have a few things in common which helps with conversations. I felt really comfortable out there.â€� To be fair it’s more than a few things in common. In fact, Trent’s mother Louise – who proudly watched the entire practice round – recalled countless moments of her young son trying to emulate Scott. Louise even has photos where those who see them – without prompting – speak of how his mannerisms can mirror Scott’s. “When I was a junior we tried to model my swing a little bit off Adam Scott,â€� Trent admits. “Obviously, I have my own identity with it but he does have the prettiest swing in the world so you try to take a few things off it and build it off that. It is probably the best canvass to start off with.â€� Trent took down none other than Cole Hammer, the Texan who has already been at the top of the world amateur rankings, in a playoff to earn his place this week. While those in Nevada who follow junior and college golf weren’t overly surprised with the result, plenty of others were. Especially back in Australia. Truthfully, Trent’s success caught those down under by surprise. But they can be forgiven. Having seen the talent in their son, Trent’s parents packed the family up and moved to Las Vegas when he was 15, a year after he skipped school to watch Scott claim the first Masters title for Australia. The idea was to immerse him in the American high school and college golf system, and as a result Trent was not on the Golf Australia radar as much as others. He came to prominence when he made the final 32 at this year’s U.S. Amateur and an Australian flag popped up on the scoreboards next to his name. Trent would put down his residence in Las Vegas and his country in entry forms but invariably the stars and stripes would be shown next to his name. He tried writing “Las Vegas, Australiaâ€� as his town and was even announced that way at some events, but it wasn’t until this year’s U.S. Amateur at Pinehurst where he made a more formal request of the USGA, and it was granted. “I have always been an under-the-radar type guy but you can only do that for so long if you want to be out here. I am ready to try to elevate my game to the next level,â€� Trent says. “My goals this week are to have four really solid rounds. I think that would be a great week for me. I have a lot of family and friends coming out so I am going to try to soak it up as much as I can.â€� One man who thinks he can do it is Scott. When he heard of Trent and their similarities, he knew the right thing to do was to reach out. And truth be told, given Trent has played many more rounds at TPC Summerlin than Scott, the elder Aussie also learned a few things. “I have stayed in touch with UNLV golf since I left even though I haven’t been back to Vegas very much,â€� Scott said. “Jack’s only 20 years old and if I think back a little bit about all the opportunities UNLV opened for me here in the United States, well here it is doing the same thing for Jack. “Hopefully he is in for a good week. He obviously knows what he’s doing out here on the course. He’s a big strong kid and he has got all the tools and he has years and years ahead of him for his game to mature. There is no reason why he can’t have a good four days out here.â€� It wasn’t long after Scott left UNLV that he became a permanent member on the PGA TOUR, and at 24 he won THE PLAYERS for his second victory. No one is putting that sort or pressure on Trent. But given all the other similarities, keep an eye on the 2023 field at TPC Sawgrass.

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