Now that Tiger Woods withdrawal as sent the ratings for this week’s Hero World Challenge to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, who will be the player most likely to hoist the cool Tiger World trophy on Sunday?
That would be DP World Tour Championship-winning Jon Rahm. Rahm, the world No. 5, is one of six players from the top 10 in the limited, 20-player field.
This is a course where you have to go low to win. Defending champion Viktor Hovland shot 18-under last year to edge world No. 2 Scottie Scheffler, who is in the field.
Tony Finau had a strong year and if his putter likes the greens at Albany, he’s always a guy to keep and eye on.
Add no. 6 Xander Schauffele, no. 8 Justin Thomas, no. 9 Matt Fitzpatrick and newly-wed Collin Morikawa (no. 10) — and it has its share of star power with Tiger watching the action from the comfort of his personal golf cart.
Both Rahm and Finau have been on hot streaks the past few months. Rahm has two wins in his past three starts and six top 10s in his past seven starts.
Rahm bested Finau by four strokes back in 2018 for the Hero title, but Finau latter has already taken three wins this year versus none four years ago. All three of Finau’s wins have come in the latter half of 2022, with the 33-year-old most recently topping the field at the Cadence Bank Houston Open earlier this month. A win in the Bahamas would mark his first Hero title.
