Five things to know from the West Coast Swing

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – Professional baseball isn’t the only sport whose relocation to the Sunshine State marks the start of spring. Golf’s arrival in Florida also signifies that winter’s end is approaching.

But, while the national pastime is emerging from its long hibernation, professional golf’s season is already in full flight. The TOUR is crossing the country after an eventful start to the calendar year. Less than two months into 2023, a certain Spaniard has emerged as the game’s dominant force, one of the TOUR’s most popular players continues his ascension up the world ranking and the reigning PGA TOUR Player of the Year returned to the winner’s circle.

Here are five things to know as we put a bow on the West Coast Swing.

1. ON A RAHM-PAGE

Jon Rahm heard the critics late last year. After a successful 2021 that saw him win his first major, some expressed concern after he won just once in the first nine months of 2022. He’d won multiple titles worldwide in his first five full seasons as a pro. That streak was in jeopardy, though.

Then Rahm closed the year by winning in his native Spain and again at the DP World Tour Championship.

“Hopefully, people can stop telling me that this was a bad year,” he said after his win in Dubai. “Three wins worldwide. Three wins on three different continents. Yeah, there wasn’t a major championship, but it was still a really, really good season.”

His form continued after the calendar turned. Rahm won his first two starts of 2023, then added a third victory Sunday at The Genesis Invitational, where he outlasted Max Homa. That’s three wins for Rahm in his past five starts on TOUR. He’d never won three titles in a single PGA TOUR season before.

Rahm, who hasn’t finished outside the top 10 in six starts this season, has opened a 426-point lead on Homa in the FedExCup (Keegan Bradley, who’s 994 points off the pace, is the only other player within 1,000 points of Rahm). Rahm has earned $9.4 million on the PGA TOUR in this calendar year; Max Homa is next on the list with less than half of Rahm’s earnings ($4.67 million).

His victory at The Genesis Invitational also returned Rahm to No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

So what’s different than the first nine months of last year, when Rahm’s lone win came at the Mexico Open presented by Vidanta? Not much, says Rahm, further proof about how small the margins are at golf’s highest level.

“I've said multiple times I haven't really done anything different,” he said Sunday. “I kept on working on some things that I knew I needed to work on and kept focusing on the day-to-day grind with focus on the future, knowing that doing the little things right for a long time will eventually pay off.

“I wouldn't say I was too frustrated. I think the only thing that's better, I've been making more putts and my wedge game has gotten a little bit better which has allowed me to have better looks as well. It's a combination of things, but I'm talking about such a small difference.”

2. HOMA-COURSE ADVANTAGE

Max Homa was emotional talking about his close call at The Genesis Invitational. He’d won the tournament two years earlier but wanted to win it this time for the friends and family in attendance (they weren’t able to attend in 2021 because of COVID-19). Homa came up two strokes short and had to collect himself several times during his post-round press conference.

“I'm not disappointed in my golf,” Homa said, “I'm just disappointed in the ending.”

He can take solace in an incredible start to the year and his continued ascension in the world ranking. Homa is second in the FedExCup and cracked the top 10 in the world ranking for the first time with his runner-up at The Riviera Country Club.

Homa is the only player other than Rahm to win multiple times this season. Homa claimed the season-opening Fortinet Championship and this year’s Farmers Insurance Open, where he beat the likes of Rahm, Bradley and Collin Morikawa on a former major championship venue.

Homa knows that winning a major is the next step in his career progression and this year’s U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club offers a storybook opportunity. Not only is the venue just a few miles from Riviera and designed by the same architect, George C. Thomas, but Homa won the 2013 Pac-12 Championship there with a course-record 61 in the first round. The diehard Dodgers and Lakers fan who grew up a half-hour away will be the sentimental favorite at LACC.

Four of Homa’s six PGA TOUR wins have come in his home state. Rahm may be the only player who’s better than Homa in the Golden State.

Homa had three top-3 finishes in four starts on the West Coast Swing, and he thinks he has found the secret to extending his good play after the TOUR heads east. Making fewer of his short putts as the year progressed implied to Homa that his focus may have been waning as the months wore on. Winning last year’s Wells Fargo Championship in May in Maryland and making his TOUR Championship debut proved to Homa that he is on the right track.

“It’s almost like a lack of focus and kind of getting tired,” he said last week. “It's sounds silly, we're playing golf, but it's such a frustrating game, the weeks get long and I think at times when you get frustrated, you start moving too fast. So I had a goal last year to make sure that I felt like I was slowing down, I was enjoying myself, maybe even change the schedule a little bit to make sure that I felt fresh.”

3. DESIGNATED HITTERS

The unprecedented promise from the TOUR’s top players to compete together more often has paid immediate dividends. Three designated events have been played in 2023 and they all provided thrilling finishes by some of the biggest names in the game. In two of the three events, the winner earned the top spot in the world ranking with his victory. Scottie Scheffler did it at the WM Phoenix Open, only for Rahm to supplant him a week later at The Genesis Invitational.

Rahm started things by shooting a Sunday 63 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions to chase down Collin Morikawa, who started the final round with a six-shot lead. Scheffler successfully defended his title at TPC Scottsdale, where a year earlier he earned his first PGA TOUR title. Last year’s WM kicked off a run where Scheffler won four times in six starts, culminating with his Masters title, but he had not won since leaving Augusta National last April. Nick Taylor put on a strong bid for the upset, but Scheffler outlasted a leaderboard that also featured Rahm (3rd), Justin Thomas (4th), Jason Day (5th) and Sam Burns, Sungjae Im, Jordan Spieth and Tyrrell Hatton, who all tied for sixth.

A week later, The Genesis featured a memorable back-and-forth between the TOUR’s top two players this season. Rahm finally pulled ahead of Homa with birdies on two of the last five holes.

How strong was the list of winners on the West Coast? Homa is actually the only one who hasn’t won a major or THE PLAYERS, as Justin Rose and Si Woo Kim joined Rahm, Homa and Scheffler by winning thus far in 2023.

4. THREE MUSKETEERS

A clear triumvirate continues to establish itself atop the world of golf. That trio is comprised of the reigning FedExCup champion (McIlroy), reigning Player of the Year (Scheffler) and the current favorite to claim both of those honors (Rahm). All three have held the top spot in the world ranking this year. No one other than those three has been No. 1 in the world since July 2021. Rahm, Scheffler and McIlroy currently hold the top three spots in the world ranking, in that order.

“Rory, Jon and Scottie are kind of in a league of their own at times and it's just our job to go catch them,” Homa said. He probably belongs to be mentioned in that group, as well, even if he won’t put his name up there.

McIlroy arrived in the States after winning the DP World Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic in January, the first time he’d started a calendar year with a victory. It also marked his third win in seven worldwide starts (a run during which he didn’t finish worse than fourth). He also won the TOUR Championship and CJ CUP in South Carolina during that stretch to claim the FedExCup and world No. 1 ranking, respectively. But McIlroy, who’s never won during the West Coast Swing, has finished a pedestrian T29 and T32 in his two PGA TOUR starts this year.

He is a past champion of the upcoming Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and THE PLAYERS, so those may serve as a better barometer of where his game is as he takes another crack at Augusta National and the Career Grand Slam.

5. TEN ON IT

There were four players who had three or more top-10s on the West Coast Swing. Two of them, Homa and Rahm, should not be a surprise.

The other two are players trying to end notable winless droughts, Jason Day and Collin Morikawa. They had three top-10s apiece, tied with Homa for second-most on TOUR in this calendar year (Rahm has finished in the top-10 in all five of his TOUR starts in 2023).

Day, the former world No. 1, is seeking his first win in five years. The former winner of the PGA Championship (2015) and THE PLAYERS Championship (2016) is one of the few players who can relate to the run that Rahm is on. Day’s game is progressing in the right direction as he tries to return to his winning ways. He leaves California after consecutive top-10s at the Farmers Insurance Open (T7), WM Phoenix Open (5th) and The Genesis Invitational (T9). Day also has returned to the top 50 in the world ranking after starting the year outside the top 100. Staying in the top 50 for a few more weeks will earn Day a return to the Masters after he missed the tournament last year for the first time since 2010.

Morikawa’s winless streak hasn’t lasted quite as long but it is notable because it began after he won his second major championship, The Open in July 2021. He looked like he would end the drought at this year’s Sentry Tournament of Champions after he took a six-shot lead into the final round. Rahm chased him down with a 63, but Morikawa rebounded with a third-place finish at the Farmers Insurance Open and T6 at The Genesis Invitational. A missed cut at the WM Phoenix Open was the only start where Morikawa finished outside the top 10. That consistency is a testament to the work he did on his short game in the offseason.