Rahm ready to play second fiddle to world number 647

LA JOLLA, California  (Reuters) - Jon Rahm will enter the Farmers Insurance Open this week as the number two player in the world, but he realises that most of the attention will be on a player ranked 645 places behind him.

Rahm has made a meteoric rise up the rankings over the past year, and Sunday’s playoff win at the CareerBuilder Challenge lifted him one spot to second, behind American Dustin Johnson.

The sky appears to be the limit for the 23-year-old Spaniard, but he will still have to play second fiddle at Torrey Pines to world number 647 Tiger Woods.

Woods, seemingly healed after spinal fusion surgery last April, is playing his first official PGA Tour event in a year, and such is his status that even his competitors are genuinely excited by his presence.

“The more attention you guys have on Tiger, the better for me, frankly,” Rahm told reporters on Tuesday.

“Hopefully, I keep playing good and give you guys something to talk about, but it’s not bad that the attention’s on Tiger. It’s good for golf, it’s good for all of us.”

Rahm did not speculate on what he expected from Woods this week, but he certainly hopes the 14-times major champion finds his old form sooner or later.

“Tiger getting in contention, it would be absolutely amazing,” he said. “A lot of us dreamt about having the opportunity to maybe walk the back nine with Tiger in contention and have a battle hand-in-hand.

“I hope it happens and I hope I’m the one, and quite truly I hope I come out on top if it happens.”

Only time will tell whether 42-year-old Woods can recapture the greatness of his halcyon days, but if he does then Rahm looms as one of his biggest roadblocks to success.

Only the fourth Spaniard to rise so high in the world rankings -- after Seve Ballesteros, Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia -- Rahm’s stock has likely not yet peaked.

Rahm said he realised the magnitude of his accomplishments over the past year when he returned home last year.

“I realised what a huge deal my year had become over there, but I feel like the less I think about it the better,” said the Spaniard, adding he was under no illusions of the difficultly of becoming world number one and then staying there.

“Beating Dustin Johnson is a really, really hard task.

“I’ll try to focus more on what’s going on this week rather than what comes with it if I win.” 

Confident Woods plays practice round ahead of comeback

LA JOLLA, California (Reuters) - Tiger Woods declared it was all systems go after sneaking in nine quick holes at Torrey Pines on Tuesday, two days ahead of his official PGA Tour comeback at the Farmers Insurance Open.

On a sparkling winter morning in southern California, with not a cloud in the sky and barely a ripple on the Pacific Ocean, Woods showed he is still an early bird when he teed off shortly after the sun had risen over the Laguna Mountains.

He played the back nine on the South Course and was finished by 9.30 A.M.

Woods did not speak to reporters after his round, but had a quick word with ESPN while he was playing. He was confident that his game - and body - was heading in the right direction.

“You have to beat balls for a little bit of time to build up your endurance and muscles. I feel like I’ve done that and now it’s time to play a tournament,” he said.

Woods, who has barely played in three years due to a serious back injury, returned after a 10-month absence when he took part in the unofficial Hero World Challenge, finishing a respectable ninth out of 18 players and swinging with apparent freedom.

“I’ve had a little more time to get ready for this event,” he said. “I’ve played a lot more golf and overall I feel like I’ve made some nice changes. I feel good.”

Woods, 42, will play the first two rounds with fellow Americans Patrick Reed and Charley Hoffman.