PGA Tour golf best bets: The American Express

LA JOLLA, Calif. - Jon Rahm was one back of the cut line with five holes to play in Thursday's second round of the Farmers Insurance Open. Multiple streaks were in jeopardy. Rahm is coming off victories in back-to-back starts at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and The American Express. He also entered the week with 21 consecutive made cuts, the longest active streak on TOUR. The cut line, though, was far from Rahm's mind. "The goal is to win," Rahm said. "It would have come into mind maybe in the last few holes had I been even par. I knew going into 5 through 9 to take care of the par 5s, take care of the short par 4, (No.) 7, everything would be all right. I was playing with the mindset of catching up to the leaders as much as possible, that’s it." Rahm delivered on that mentality, playing his final five holes Thursday in 5-under, making eagle on the par-5 fifth at Torrey Pines' North Course to move under par for the week, then adding birdies at 6, 7 and 8. It resulted in a second-round, 5-under 67 on a blustery afternoon along the Pacific coastline, matching rookie Tano Goya for the day's low round. Rahm stands T14 at 4-under total, having made the cut with four strokes to spare. He's eight strokes back of 36-hole leader Sam Ryder, but just two back of fourth place. Rahm began the day in 116th place after an opening-round, 1-over 73 at Torrey Pines' South Course, the more demanding of Torrey's two layouts. (The third and fourth rounds will both be played on Torrey South.) Torrey North is playing to a 71.455 stroke average this week, with Torrey South playing to 74.038 (Thursday's averages: 73.179 North, 75.859 South). The Farmers leaderboard doesn't standardize until 36 holes are complete, and Rahm knew his opportunity to make a move would come. It came on Thursday's final five holes, and he enters the "golf weekend," as he said, with a puncher's chance. Thirty-six holes represents a metaphorical eternity - particularly for the world's hottest player, who has four wins in his last five official starts and stands No. 1 on the FedExCup. "Anything in the 60s would have been amazing," Rahm said of his mentality into Thursday. "What I shot today, man, I'm going to be skipping out of the golf course, because it's a great round of golf." Rahm's last missed cut on TOUR came at the Fortinet Championship in September 2021. He extends his streak to 22, and he'll play just 55 minutes ahead of the final threesome in Friday's third round. His personal highlight Thursday came at the par-5 fifth hole. Upon arriving in the fairway, he selected 6-iron for his 191-yard approach and conferred with his veteran caddie Adam Hayes. "It seemed like it was supposed to be helping, but it wasn't really," Rahm said. "It's usually more of a soft 6-iron; I asked Adam, ‘Are you OK if I take a little bit off of it?' and he said, ‘No, it's all of it.' And that's where a great caddie comes into play. "I hit exactly the shot I thought and gave myself an amazing chance for eagle." Rahm converted that 12-footer for eagle, moving inside the cut line. He was only just beginning.