Jon Rahm

Rahm had a victory at the Mexico Open, eight top-10's and 13 top-25's with only one missed cut in 19 starts. That is an incredible season for most every other player on Tour, but for Rahm it felt extremely pedestrian. In 2020-21, the Spaniard was the undisputed best player in the world by whatever metric you wanted to use, but last season Rahm just could never put it all together. He led the PGA Tour in SG: Off-the-Tee and was third in GIR percentage, but what really stuck out was 143rd in SG: Around-the-Green and 182nd in putts per round. Those two numbers are extreme outliers if you look in comparison to Rahm's first five years on the PGA Tour. Expect a big bounce back in 2022-23 from what many consider to be the best pure talent in the world of golf alongside Rory McIlroy.

After all of these years, Rahm finally got his major. OK, it was actually just five years as a full-time member on the PGA Tour, but it felt longer. Rahm established himself among the elite of the elite golfers in the in 2020-21 season, as he not only picked up his first major, but he also posted an incredible 15 top-10s on his way to more than $7.7 million. There's no question that Rahm will continue to get better, the only question is how good can he be. A few players can stake a claim to being the best in the world, and Rahm is anong them. That said, his salary cap prospects aren't good because there's not much room for improvement unless he goes ballistic this season.

Rahm was cruising prior to the break this past year, as he posted four top-10s in just five starts, but he struggled to find much traction after the PGA Tour's return in June. That changed when he picked up a win at the Memorial Tournament in July and another at the BMW in August. Rahm is clearly an elite golfer already and all he's missing is a major. That should change sometime very soon and while he'll likely post some big numbers this season, his cap number is just too high for salary cap purposes this season.

Rahm is in a similar position to a few other players on the PGA Tour in that he's well accomplished already, but he's yet to have that breakthrough moment. Then again, he's only 24. It's hard to believe that this guy, who has earned over $15 million in three full years on the PGA Tour is still just a young pup. Rahm will only get better from here as his breakout win is just around the corner. He's capable of posting a number north of $8 million, which puts him in the conversation for a salary cap selection this season, but obviously, at this number, there's a lot of risk.

There aren't many players on the PGA Tour that could finish inside the top-25 on the FedEx list and consider the season a disappointment, but that's exactly the case for Rahm. Rahm, by most accounts, is destined for greatness on the golf course and in this day and age where greatness emerges immediately, the fact that he's fallen behind some of his peers is a little concerning. The good news for Rahm however is that he's only 23. All of these "young guns" on the PGA Tour right now. Rahm is younger than just about all of them. He has plenty of time to figure everything out. For starters, he needs to work on his temper, which will continue to hamper his progress, especially at the majors, but it's not like he's in uncharted waters there, many before have had similar issues. Rahm will get it figured out and at his current price, it might be worth betting on him figuring it out this season.

Rahm came in with very high expectations this season, but somehow, he managed to exceeded them. Rahm came on the scene late during the 2015-16 season and it was clear that he had a lot of talent. The funny thing about talent though is, unless you have the mental fortitude to back it up, it won't get you very far. Rahm still needs to work on a few things, namely his temper in big spots, but there's no reason to doubt him going forward. Even though his number for this season is very high, he's still worth a look in salary cap formats as he has enough game to significantly improve this season.

Rahm made quite a splash in his first foray onto the PGA Tour and will now have a full year to perform. We expect some good things, but also some speed bumps for the promising player. Don't get too hyped up; he'll be playing with the big boys on a regular basis now. Let's wait and see before we enshrine him in the golf hall of fame.