This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.
The Memorial Tournament is not a major, is not close to a major. But virtually all the best golfers in the world were there. And that never happens — except at a major. So there was something very big about this tournament, something special about winning this tournament.
Therefore it was fitting that after Jon Rahm survived some rocky moments to be the last man standing on a wild day at Muirfield Village, he officially became the best golfer in the world, ascending to the No. 1 ranking. Rahm overtook Rory McIlroy and is the 24th No. 1 in the OWGR era, the 10th European and the second Spaniard after the late Seve Ballesteros.
Rahm, 25, has of course never won a major, not even a WGC or a playoff event. He has 10 worldwide titles, all since 2017, including the 2017 Farmers and two DP World Tour Championships, the European Tour's season-ending equivalent to the Tour Championship.
Rahm has been among the top guys in world for a few years now, so becoming No. 1 isn't really a surprise. But the fact that it happened now is, coming on the heels of the poorest stretch of golf of his young career — no top-25s in four consecutive events since the restart. He never had gone so long without a top-25 in his 100 career OWGR tournaments. Rahm did tie for 27th a week ago at the Workday Charity Open, with a final-round 64, so there was some semblance
The Memorial Tournament is not a major, is not close to a major. But virtually all the best golfers in the world were there. And that never happens — except at a major. So there was something very big about this tournament, something special about winning this tournament.
Therefore it was fitting that after Jon Rahm survived some rocky moments to be the last man standing on a wild day at Muirfield Village, he officially became the best golfer in the world, ascending to the No. 1 ranking. Rahm overtook Rory McIlroy and is the 24th No. 1 in the OWGR era, the 10th European and the second Spaniard after the late Seve Ballesteros.
Rahm, 25, has of course never won a major, not even a WGC or a playoff event. He has 10 worldwide titles, all since 2017, including the 2017 Farmers and two DP World Tour Championships, the European Tour's season-ending equivalent to the Tour Championship.
Rahm has been among the top guys in world for a few years now, so becoming No. 1 isn't really a surprise. But the fact that it happened now is, coming on the heels of the poorest stretch of golf of his young career — no top-25s in four consecutive events since the restart. He never had gone so long without a top-25 in his 100 career OWGR tournaments. Rahm did tie for 27th a week ago at the Workday Charity Open, with a final-round 64, so there was some semblance of his game returning.
But not to the extent that he would dominate this tournament. Rahm took a four-stroke lead into Sunday and it ballooned to eight before the gap between him and Ryan Palmer began to close on the back nine, getting as close as three.
It was then that Rahm hit the shot of a lifetime to end the remaining drama — or so we thought. After missing the green at the par-3 16th and finding himself in thick rough with little green to work with, Rahm flopped a shot high into the air and watched as it slowly, miraculously trundled into the hole for a birdie.
Even Palmer had to smile and congratulate his good friend, with a kinda/sorta not-socially-distant high-five.
There was more to the story, however. A TV camera detected a slight movement of the ball as Rahm placed his wedge behind it. Twitter was all over it, then CBS. It really didn't matter, as Rahm's winning margin of five was simply reduced to three after a chat with Tour officials. Officially, the chip-in birdie for the ages became a chip-in bogey.
It did little to detract from a brilliant week of golf: first in strokes gained: tee to green and around the green, fourth in SG off the tee, eighth in SG approach, third in greens in regulation and 28th in SG putting, which was more than good enough considering everything else.
Really, the only weakness in Rahm's game is his temperament, and it flared briefly on the back nine as things began to go sideways. But the lead was so big and Rahm has also made great strides in that area.
Shooting 75 or 73, however you want to view it, was pretty dang good, especially carrying the weight of leading and potentially becoming No. 1. Amid 90-plus-degree heat and 30 mph wind, the scores skyrocketed on Sunday. The final-round scoring average of just under 76 was the highest at a non-major in more than four years, since 2016 at Torrey Pines.
So the fact that Rahm played well says a lot about him. For everyone who played poorly, it's a little harder to make determinations because the Sunday conditions were so extreme. But regardless, here we go.
MONDAY BACKSPIN
He looked good Thursday, terrible Friday, not bad Saturday and hardly anyone looked good Sunday. What does it all mean? Who knows? He sure sounded after the round as if we wouldn't see him again until the PGA Championship in three weeks. It's hard to envision him contending there without playing the WGC the week before. But then playing two weeks in a row is not good for his back. And therein lies the dilemma for Woods.
What a great week for the 43-year-old in what is becoming his finest season in at least five years. He finished solo second, his fourth top-10 and eighth top-25 in 14 starts. He's back up to No. 40 in the world, his highest standing in almost five years. The result also got him into the WGC in two weeks and, more important, the U.S. Open in September. Palmer used to be a pretty good putter but not anymore and not for years. And that's not a good weakness when in contention.
Hughes got the other Memorial berth into the U.S. Open, edging out a gallant Henrik Norlander. They both tied for sixth, but Hughes won out based on his higher world ranking, which is now a career-best 75th. Hughes finished third at the Travelers and second at the Honda in what is his best season, better than 2016, when he got his lone win at the RSM. He is not a long hitter and not especially accurate with his irons. But he is ranked ninth in SG around the green and 25th in SG putting, and that is enough to land on the first page of leaderboards. He was first in the Memorial field in putting. As for Norlander, at 31, he is playing his best golf. He's made four consecutive cuts, and this was his best finish ever on Tour in terms of OWGR points. He'll have another chance to qualify for the U.S. Open this week at the 3M Open, with two more berths up for grabs for non-exempt players.
Two weeks with Bones on the bag and the results are in. After a tie for 27th at the Workday, Fitzpatrick turned in his second-best finish ever on the PGA Tour — solo third. He shot the round of the day, a 68 that was unfathomable in those conditions. We'll see Fitzpatrick next in two weeks at the WGC in Memphis, where he tied for fourth a year ago. Up to a career-best 20th OWGR, he'll have regular caddie Billy Foster back by his side.
Day at times looked as if he could barely bend over to get his ball out of the cup. But for the second week in a row he did a pretty darn good job of getting the ball in the cup. Playing for the sixth week in a row since the restart, Day tied for fourth, following a T7 at the Workday, and is again inside the top-50 at No. 44. As long as his back holds up …
Since the restart: MC-5-WD-9. Plus there was the WD before the start of the Heritage. Fantasy golf is always a bit of crap shoot, but Na is next-level crap shoot.
Schauffele was one of those guys sitting at 3-over on Friday (78-69) enduring the late-day cut sweat. It turned out he and all the others got in on the number, and what a weekend it was for him. Schauffele shot 72-70 to soar up the leaderboard and nearly notched a top-10. He wound up tied for 13th. The moral of the story is: They don't issue the checks until after the tournament is over.
McIlroy was never a factor and tied for 32nd. He's played four events since the restart and does not have a top-10. The last time he went four straight events without a top-10 was early in 2018 — and then he won his very next event, the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Leishman was playing pretty poorly heading into the Memorial and didn't get any better during the week. A lot of people liked him coming in, but why? He had gone MC-T58-MC in his first three events since the break, including a trunk-slam a week ago at Muirfield Village. At some point, course history has to take a back seat to current form. His putting had been particularly bad. His putting was better at the Memorial, but other parts of his game were off, and he tied for 40th.
When we saw Koepka finish seventh at the RBC Heritage, he finally looked like his old self, especially with that Sunday 65. But he announced during the Memorial that he had an MRI on his knee on Monday. He completed four rounds, but it was not a good week (T62). And now you wonder whether there will be good weeks and bad — much like with Tiger Woods and his back — until Koepka can get some significant time off. But with the PGA Championship in August, the U.S. Open in September and the Masters in November, who knows when that can happen? He's even in the field for the 3M Open this week, but why? We don't know, but the tournament gave a spot to his brother, and he might feel some allegiance.
Yeah, he shot a 10 and flamed out on Friday. But it's not entirely a bad thing. He had been playing a lot of golf and, like all the other top guys, will be playing a lot more over the next two months. This will end up being a good thing for DeChambeau and his fantasy supporters.
While some guys have played six events since the restart, Casey has played only six rounds after trunk-slamming on Friday. He needs more reps and will get them this week at the 3M Open. In such a weak field, Casey will gather some DFS consideration for sure, but he's usually not at this best in birdie-fests — and the 3M was a birdie-fest last year. Casey is usually at his best at a get-the-ball-in-the-fairway course like Muirfield Village, but he just hasn't played a lot of golf.
Im ended the pre-shutdown portion of the season as perhaps the hottest golfer going, then came out of the break with a tie for 10th at Colonial. Since then, though, five tournaments, no finish inside the top-50, two missed cuts, including the Memorial. Im, lo and behold, will actually be skipping a tournament this week, and that's probably a good thing. Because he is in his biggest slump since joining the Tour.
The 2015 champion had made the cut the last seven years and had never missed. For years he had been far from the golfer who won his lone PGA Tour title (he also finished tri-runner-up to Tiger Woods at the 2013 Players Championship). But with a bad missed cut this year, that crazy good stretch came to an end.
DraftKings Prices
There were only 131 golfers in the field; 74 made the cut. Of the 74, 40 were long-shot priced at $7,000 or less. Mackenzie Hughes cost $6,700, Ryan Palmer $6,400, Henrik Norlander $6,300. Matt Wallace, who tied for fourth, was $7,000. There were nine golfers at the lowest possible price, $6,000, and six made the cut. One, Xinjun Zhang, tied for 10th. Absolutely crazy week. If you got 6-for-6 through to the weekend, give yourself a hand. There were 43 of the top-50 OWGR, and more than a third, 16, missed the cut. Whenever the field is in the 120-130 range, and more than half will make the cut, a boatload of sub-$7,000s are bound to make the cut. Maybe not to the extent as at the Memorial, but it's just math. And this week at the 3M Open it's bound to happen again, albeit for a different reason — the field of 156 is incredibly weak. Somebody could make their whole season this week (we're talking golfers, not you).
