Jon Rahm had a great year in 2023 and is off to an impeccable start to the new year. On January 2, the 29-year-old received the Male Player of the Year award from the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA). However, every day undoubtedly brings its own challenges for the latest defector.

To highlight the challenge, Rahm’s win from last year at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, his first of 2023, now stands tainted by a statistical anomaly that has revealed his one inconsistency and weakness with his approach shots!

Jon Rahm’s 2023 Sentry victory is overshadowed by a negative SG

According to Justin Ray, a golf analyst and writer, Rahm was the only tournament winner in 2023 who had negative strokes gained in approach for the week. He tweeted on his ‘X’ account, saying, “Jon Rahm won The Sentry last year despite losing strokes to the field for the week with his approach play.”

This means that he hit his shots from the fairway or the rough worse than the average player in the tournament. “It was the only instance all season of a tournament winnеr having negative strokes gained (SG) approach,” a statistic that measures how much a player gains or loses on each shot relative to the field average. 

The now-LIV golfer’s SG in approach for the 2021 Players Championship to the 2022 Genesis Invitational was 2.90. However, at Sentry 2023, playing at the 7,596-yard Plantation course, his strokes gained for putting fell to a 1.67, while his accuracy averaged at -10%.

The stat now coming to light certainly adds insult to injury for the player, who, now that he has jumped ship, cannot play at the event to defend his title. Despite that, does the fact that he lost strokes mean that he is a bad player? Well, far from it.

How does the stokes gained approach determine a player’s game?

The SG approach is one of the most important indicators of a player’s performance. It reflects how well they hit their shots into the green, setting up opportunities for birdies or pars. Rahm is known for his power and accuracy off the tee, but he has often been inconsistent with his iron play. And that is exactly what happened at the TOC last year.

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Despite that, of course, he went on to win, proving that statistics do not show us the whole picture. The 11-time PGA Tour winner won the Sentry with nine birdies and an eagle. Rahm scored 63 in the last round, 10 under par, helping him beat Collin Morikawa on Sunday by two strokes.

While, of course, his clutch putting and his resilience under pressure deserve massive credit, Rahm will undoubtedly have to improve his iron play if he wants to avoid the horrors of the past, as he will make his debut in the LIV Golf 2024 season in the coming months, where he will have no fourth round to cover up his mistakes!

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