Jon Rahm extended his lead at the top of the World Points List as the qualification process for The Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits resumed at the PGA Tour’s Sentry Tournament of Champions.
The Spaniard, who made his Ryder Cup debut at The 2018 Ryder Cup at Le Golf National, finished in a tie for seventh at Kapalua’s Plantation Course.
The event saw the restart of the European Ryder Cup Points Race, with points available to be earned on the World Points List. As per the revised qualification criteria, all points earned on both the European and World Points list will be multiplied by 1.5 until May 9. All points earned from May 12 to September 12 will be multiplied by 2.
After an opening round of 70, Rahm picked up the pace with rounds of 66-69-67 to finish in a tie for seventh to earn 15.68 points.
The World Number Two currently tops the World Points List on 232.90 points, with five-time Team Europe player Rory McIlroy his closest competitor just 61.71 points behind.
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The limited field also saw two other Europeans battling for Ryder Cup points in Sergio Garcia and Viktor Hovland.
Europe’s all-time leading points scorer, Garcia, moved up seven places in the World Points List to 15th (51.72 points) after rounds of 67-71-67-69 saw the Spaniard finish in a tie for 11th.
Should Garcia qualify for Team Europe for the tenth time, he can extend his lead as Europe’s all-time leading points scorer and will also move within one of Sir Nick Faldo’s appearance record (11).
Two-time PGA Tour winner Hovland moved up two places and inside the top 20 after finishing in a tie for 31st in Hawaii.
In February 2020, Hovland became the first Norwegian golfer to win on the PGA Tour and is looking to become the first from his country to represent Team Europe at The Ryder Cup.
Qualifying continues on the World Points List next week as the PGA Tour heads to Honolulu for the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Qualifying on the European Points List will resume the following week as the European Tour kickstarts its season with the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship the first Rolex Series event on the 2021 Race to Dubai.
