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TSN Senior Reporter

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1. Jon Rahm won for the second time on the PGA Tour with his playoff victory at the CareerBuilder Challenge on Sunday. It also marked the fourth victory worldwide for the Spaniard in the last year.

Not bad for a 23-year-old.

Perhaps more impressive, however, is that Rahm moved to No. 2 in the Official World Golf Ranking, passing Jordan Spieth. When he made his professional debut in June 2016, he was ranked 776.

“It’s hard to believe to be honest that I’m passing Jordan Spieth, that’s a three-time major champion,” said Rahm after collecting his 12th top-10 finish in the 12 months. “I mean, I only have two wins and he’s got 10-plus, right? I’ve said it many times, I never thought I was going to be at this point in my life right now.”

Rahm heads to Torrey Pines this week to defend his first Tour title at the Famers Insurance Open.
 

2. Adam Hadwin certainly loves playing the CareerBuilder Challenge. On Sunday, he rallied for a final-round 68 to end up tied in third spot. That marked his third consecutive top-six finish in the tournament. He was runner-up last year after his remarkable round of 59, and two years ago finished sixth.

Over the course of those three tournaments, he’s a combined 59-under par.

While those figures are stunning, what may be equally startling is that this finish is just the second top-10 for Hadwin going back to last March when he ended up tied for sixth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. While his overall year in 2016-17 was strong, it was front-loaded. The only top-10 after the Palmer event came at the World Golf Championship-Bridgestone Invitational where he was tied for fifth.

Hadwin, by the way, moved up to 52nd in the world ranking from 60th.
 

3. Tiger Woods makes his return to the PGA Tour this week at the Farmers Insurance Open and no one is quite sure what to expect, including, possibly, Woods himself. Oddsmakers, however, are lining up against a big return. BetDSI Sportsbook has an offering on the 14-time major winner with the odds at -140 for him to miss the cut (meaning you’d have to risk $140 to win $100 if you think he won’t advance to the weekend.)

A year ago Woods played this event and shot 76-72 to miss the cut. However he has won eight tournaments at this course including his last major, the 2008 U.S. Open.

As for the Masters, the latest figures have Woods at 20 to 1 to win a fifth Green Jacket. He opened at 100 to 1.
 

4. Rory McIlroy wasn’t able to catch Tommy Fleetwood at the Abu Dhabi Classic on Sunday but he wasn’t displeased with his tie for third. Considering it was his first tournament in three months, there was a lot to like about his game.

"I'm really happy how I played this week," McIlroy said to the media after his final-round 70. "My game is in really good shape and I saw some really, really positive signs. So I'm looking forward to next week in Dubai and obviously looking forward to the rest of the season."

Winless in 2017, McIlroy has an ambitious schedule ahead of the Masters, with eight tournaments on his schedule. After playing in Dubai, he’ll make three consecutive starts in the U.S. – the AT&T Pebble Beach, the Genesis Open and the Honda Classic. He also has Valspar, the Arnold Palmer and the World Golf Championship Match Play on his itinerary. The Masters, of course, is the missing link in the career Grand Slam for the 28-year-old.
 

5. McIlroy also wasn’t shy about defending his side in this year’s Ryder Cup. While many pundits think the Americans are set to dominate the team event after a win in 2016 and a lopsided victory at last fall’s Presidents Cup, McIlroy wasn’t backing down.

“The Ryder Cup's always close,” he said last week. “It always comes down to a few key moments, and it will be no different in Paris. But I think we'll have a great team and it definitely won't be as easy as they think it's going to be."

McIlroy pointed out that one advantage the European side will have this time around is course set-up. He said conditions at Hazeltine two years ago favoured the Americans but it won’t be that way in Paris this fall.

And the Euros made a statement over the weekend with Fleetwood taking Abu Dhabi, Sergio Garcia winning an event in Singapore and Rahm capturing the CareerBuilder.
 

6. Jared du Toit wasn’t successful in qualifying attempts at the Web.com Qualifying School in the fall, but did get a passing grade last week at PGA Tour Latinoamerica’s qualifier.

Du Toit, who gained attention for his tremendous finish at the 2016 RBC Canadian Open where he played in the last group on Sunday ending up tied for ninth, finished fourth at the event in Mazatlan, Mexico. He’ll split his time in 2018 between the Latinoamerica circuit and PGA Tour Canada. He may also try to Monday qualify for a few Web.Com Tour events depending on his schedule
 

7. Corey Conners ended up in a tie for 50th at the CareerBuilder, slipping somewhat on Sunday after a final-round 73. While the end result wasn’t spectacular, it did mark the seventh consecutive cut made for the Canadian. His best finish so far was a tie for 30th at the season-opening Safeway Championship.

As a rookie, every FedEx Cup point Conners earns is important to his ability to enter tournaments, which will get more difficult as the season progresses. He’s on a priority list of rookies that goes through several re-shuffles during the year based on recent performance. The next one occurs after the Genesis Open on Feb. 18. The higher on the list you are, the more events you’ll play.

Conners’ play has attracted the attention of one past Canadian PGA Tour winner. Ian Leggatt played with Conners last month and said his ball-striking was stellar and gave him a good chance to win before the season is over.
 

8. Andrew “Beef” Johnston finished tied for ninth at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. That’s his best finish on either the European or PGA Tour in over a year. And it might be due to a new path the extremely popular player is attempting to take this year.

Johnston said he wants to try and curtail some of the extra curricular activities that have become part of his persona.

“I'm a social person,” he stated after his third round. “If you go out with friends or you get invited to something, I'll have a beer, please, but I probably had a few too many beers, I would say, to be honest and it reflected in my golf and I was disappointed looking back at it. I want to turn that around and have a good season.”

It will be a tough change for Johnston. At last year’s Open Championship, he told me that the highlight of the previous year of non-stop celebrity was when he was invited to a championship darts match and was given a wrist band that said “Free Beer.”

However, the 28-year-old wants to return to the form he enjoyed in 2016 when he won his first event and had four top-10 finishes including an eighth at the Open.
 

9. Those who’ve seen Adam Svensson play agree that he oozes talent. The Surrey, B.C., golfer has the ability to go low as he did on Sunday in the first round of the Web.com Tour event in the Bahamas. Svensson birdied five holes in a row and seven in an eight-hole stretch en route to a 68. But there is some thought that he lacks the discipline or even the knowledge to take the next step.

That should change however as Svensson is now working with noted Canadian coach Ralph Bauer. He’s the instructor to Adam Hadwin, Graham DeLaet and Kyle Stanley.

Bauer said this week that he believes Svensson has the game to play at the top level and it won’t take much for him to get even better.

If he can get Svensson focused on the right things and get his game fine-tuned he should have a good chance to make it to the PGA Tour in 2018-19.