BY S MURALI TIME FOR A RAHM BREAKTHROUGH

By all accounts, Jon Rahm had a jor, or maybe five? spectacular 2019. Looking at his golf trajectory Not only did he win the Europe- thus far, five does not seem out of an Tour’s Race to Dubai in Novem- the question. ber, he also rose to World No 3 in The problem often arises, how- the official rankings and got mar- ever, when that silly tag of “The ried a couple of weeks ago to his Next Tiger” is somehow added to childhood sweetheart Kelley Ca- the mix. hill. It must be the favourite tactic of And now, almost without argu- the tired golf writer, scrambling to Rolex ment, the 25-year-old Rolex Tes- find another way to describe a very Testimonee timonee wears the tag of the “Best good young player. Rahm with Golfer to yet win a Major”. Look at those who have been his DP Unfortunately, he carries a cou- called the next Tiger over the years: World Tour ple of other tags on his broad Garcia, , Rory McIl- and Race shoulders these days too: The next roy, , To Dubai Seve and, here it comes … The next and now . trophies. Tiger. Combined, they have won one The first of these two is unavoid- fewer than the 15 Majors Tiger able, ever since he emerged from owns. the Basque region in in 2014 So can we not talk about a “Next and went 60 weeks as the top- Tiger” till someone gets to about ranked amateur in the world, an 10 Majors and wins about 50 Tour all-time record. events (Tiger has 82)? Like Jose-Maria Olazabal and Ser- Rahm has enough on his plate gio Garcia before him, immediate already trying to emulate Seve, al- comparisons were made to the late though the young man admits that Severiano Ballesteros, whose char- Tiger is his ultimate hero. ismatic play and five Majors is still After beating Tiger in the sin- talked about in reverential tones all gles at last year’s , Rahm throughout Europe. cried, and later said “Making the Unfortunately for Olazabal (two putt to beat , my all- Majors) and Garcia (one Major), time hero ... man, it was hard.” neither climbed the heights Seve And it’s not going to get any easi- reached, leaving young Mr Rahm er for young Mr Rahm. now squarely in the crosshairs. So my New Year’s wish for the Last month’s finish as Europe’s hugely talented Spaniard is that he top player was a good sign, as makes that breakthrough to win his

the only other Spaniard to have first Major in 2020. x achieved that was Seve. And hopefully, after that, for le Ro But now, Rahm is expected to his own sake, no one calls him the take that next step and claim a Ma- Next Tiger. photos:

BY THE NUMBERS: TIGER WOODS

TOUR MAJOR CONSECUTIVE PGA WINS IN CONSECUTIVE EVENTS MOST VICTORIES VICTORIES WINS PGA TOUR WINS ONE YEAR WITHOUT MISSING THE CUT IN A SINGLE PGA EVENT 82 15 7 (2006-07) 142 9 (2000) 8 MOST CAREER EARNINGS ( CONSECUTIVE INVITATIONAL & WGC- SEASONS US$120,459,468 BRIDGESTONE FINISHING IN TOP 10 ON INVITATIONAL) OFFICIAL MONEY LIST AGE AT FIRST MAJOR WIN IN 1997 AGE AT 15TH MAJOR WIN IN 2019

13 (1997-2009) 21 YEARS, 3 MONTHS, 14 DAYS 43

THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND | 28-29 DECEMBER 2019 | SWING BY SPHGOLF | 3