Jon Rahm’s latest official handicap index highlights the flaws in OWGR

Jon Rahm is one of the top professional golfers in the world. Although professional golfers do not maintain a handicap, some pros do so for their home clubs to know how many shots they would need to give their amateur partners. Even though these handicaps are not official or used in professional golf tournaments, they give us a great idea of the pro golfer's current form and ability.

A golf fan account on X recently shared the Spainiard's handicap from the USGA's website. According to that, Rahm currently has a handicap index of +9.6, which is one of the best for pros. Most professional golfers have a handicap index of somewhere between +5 and +8. Hence, Jon Rahm's handicap index of +9.6 is an incredible achievement from the LIV Golfer.

However, this highlights the flaws of the current world rankings system of golf. According to OWGR, Rahm is currently ranked 43rd, while he should at least be in the top 10 if not the top 5.

Jon Rahm joined LIV Golf earlier in 2024, after which he saw a dip in his OWGR rankings as LIV Golf is not recognized by OWGR. This is where the world rankings in golf are usually criticized as prominent names like Bryson DeChambeau, Rahm, Brooks Koepka, etc, aren't receiving any points apart from majors and some DP World Tour and Asian Tour events.

Hence, fans expect a better alternative and believe the OWGR is highly biased towards the PGA Tour.

So, with the golfing world slowly getting back together, it will be interesting to see how OWGR adapts or if it finds any better alternative.

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How did Jon Rahm perform on LIV Golf in 2024?

Jon Rahm with his caddie after winning the 2024 LIV Golf Chicago - Source: Imagn

Jon Rahm had an incredible LIV Golf debut as he won the season-long individual championship thanks to his consistent performance throughout the year including two wins. He won the LIV Golf UK and LIV Golf Chicago while his lowest finish of the season came at Singapore and Andalucia where he finished T10 for the event.

Here's how Jon Rahm performed in all the LIV Golf events in 2024.

• LIV Golf Mayakoba (Feb 2-4) – -10, T3
• LIV Golf Las Vegas (Feb 8-10) – -8, 8th
• LIV Golf Jeddah (Mar 1-3) – -11, 5th
• LIV Golf Hong Kong (Mar 8-10) – -10, T8
• LIV Golf Miami (Apr 5-7) – -8, T4
• LIV Golf Adelaide (Apr 26-28) – -16, T3
• LIV Golf Singapore (May 3-5) – -9, T10
• LIV Golf Houston (Jun 7-9) – -3, No Finish
• LIV Golf Nashville (Jun 21-23) – -12, T3
• LIV Golf Andalucía (Jul 12-14) – E, T10
• LIV Golf United Kingdom (Jul 26-28) – -13, 1st
• LIV Golf Greenbrier (Aug 16-18) – -19, 2nd
• LIV Golf Chicago (Sep 13-15) – -11, 1st