Rahm hoping to reap rewards in Race to Dubai after lengthy break
JON RAHM hopes the longest break of his career will not ruin his chances of winning the Race to Dubai for the first time.
Rahm has not played since winning his second event of the season in the Spanish Open at the start of October, but can still become just the second Spanish player after Seve Ballesteros to finish top of the European Tour money list.
Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger is in pole position and has a 723-point lead over 2017 winner Tommy Fleetwood, who won the Nedbank Golf Challenge on Sunday, with Rahm another 181 points adrift.
Open champion Shane Lowry and Sheffield’s Matt Fitzpatrick can also end the year as European No 1 with strong performances and other results going their way.
Rahm, who will win the Race to Dubai if he triumphs in the DP World Tour Championship for the second time in three years and Wiesberger finishes lower than solo second, said: “It’s nice to actually be here and have a chance to win the Race to Dubai if I take care of business this week, which I haven’t had before.
“I’ve come back from taking quite a bit of time off and just deciding to rest more than practise and travelling around the world.
“It’s the first time I’ve done that in a very long time so I really don’t know how it’s going to go. I’m hoping it’s going to be good. I am feeling good, feeling rested and looking forward to the week.
“After Spain I stayed home for a week. After that I think it was three more weeks in Arizona where I truly didn’t even step on a golf course.
“Basically ever since I became a good amateur in Spain, it’s almost been 10 straight years of non-stop. At first it was hard to let down and step away from it a little bit and then, honestly, (I did) nothing special.”