Rahm: It’s ‘1’ tight race in golf

SAN FRANCISCO — Well, it was fun while it lasted.

Jon Rahm got to bask in being ranked No. 1 in the world for all of two weeks.

When the 25-year-old won the Memorial Tournament two-plus weeks ago, he realized a dream he’d been carrying since he was a youth: He ascended to the No. 1 ranking in the world — joining his idol, Seve Ballesteros, as the only Spaniards to hold the No. 1 world ranking.

With Justin Thomas’ win this past Sunday in Memphis, Tenn., at the WGC-St. Jude, he wrested Rahm’s No. 1 ranking away after just two weeks and enters this week’s PGA Championship as No. 1.

To Rahm’s credit, rather than lament his lost top ranking, he dished out credit to Thomas on Tuesday, two days before the PGA begins at Harding Park.

“It’s well-earned,’’ Rahm said. “I played pretty bad last week [tie for 52nd] and he played amazing to win. I think we are in an era right now where it’s going to be hard to have somebody distance themselves. When you have so many great players playing who go out at the same time, at any given point for two or three months, one of us can get hot and take the No. 1 spot.

“I think we might be entering an era where we bounce back and forth. Hopefully, we can just battle it out the rest of the year and battle for majors and FedExCup and everything that’s coming up. It’s an exciting time in golf. It’s going to be hard to have a Tiger-esque case right now [when one player holds onto No. 1 for a long period of time] because there’s so many players with so much talent and are really, really good.’’

An illustration of how dominant Tiger Woods was: He held the No. 1 ranking for a record 281 consecutive weeks. In the most recent 281 weeks, the No. 1 ranking has changed hands 27 times.

“It could be a situation where we are going back and forth, and hopefully I’m the one that stays up there for a while,’’ Rahm said. “But it’s going to take a lot of good play.’’