Quarterly "Player-of-the-Year" Update: Jon Rahm out in front

April 2, 2015 | by Conner Penfold of AmateurGolf.com

Arizona State junior Jon Rahm

Spain's Jon Rahm has a nice lead for World Player-of-the-Year honors thanks to a top-five finish at a PGA Tour event

CARLSBAD, Calif. — Tying for fifth as an amateur in a PGA Tour event will go a long way in raising your amateur ranking. But that's not all Jon Rahm has done in the 2015 calendar year.

The Arizona State junior from Spain has runner- up finishes in two top-tier college events, including the elite Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters, as well as The Prestige at PGA West. Recently he picked up his fifth individual win since joining the program at the Duck Invitational at Eugene Country Club, site of the 2015 Pacific Coast Amateur and 2016 NCAA Division I National Championship.

But the bulk of his 2015 points have come from an incredible tied-for-fifth finish at the PGA Tour's Waste Management Open, a tournament he was granted a sponsor's exemption to play in. After opening with 70-68 to make the cut by five shots, Rahm closed with 66-68 on the weekend to finish three behind the winner Brooks Koepka.

Rahm has a solid 585 point lead for 2015 AmateurGolf.com Player-of-the-Year honors through the first three months of the season before the year really kicks off. With seven amateurs teeing it up next week at The Masters, followed by major conference championships beginning in mid- April, the 2015 amateur golf campaign is just getting started.

Below are the remaining top-five, starting with Stanford's red-hot sophomore.

2. Maverick McNealy | Portola Valley, Calif. | -585

McNealy is having a remarkable sophomore campaign with the Cardinal. Wins at The Prestige at PGA West and The Goodwin, as well as as runner-up finish at the Amer Ari Invitational in Hawaii, have pushed the son of Sun Microsystems co-founder Scott McNealy to second in the world in 2015. McNealy is using these wins to build upon an already-impressive run started at the beginning of the 2014-2015 season when he captured the Fighting Illini Invitational and the Southwestern Intercollegiate.

3. Cameron Davis | Sydney, Australia | -880

The 19-year-old Aussie has taken advantage of Australia's summer months to climb to the third spot. He's been prolific in the first three months of the year, playing in six events in his home country and two in Argentina. His main accomplishment came at the Australian Amateur, where he defeated New Zealand's Tyler Hodge in the 36-hole final on the first extra hole at The Australian Golf Club — his home course. He earned medalist honors at the New South Wales Amateur and has top-five finishes at the Lake Macquarie Amateur and Ten Nations Cup.

4. Beau Hossler | Mission Viejo, Calif. | -945

Hossler made headlines at the 2012 U.S. Open as a high-schooler out of Southern California when at 17 he became the youngest player to make the cut since the World War II era. Now, a sophomore at the University of Texas, Hossler picked up his first collegiate win of his career at the John Hayt and was runner-up to Alabama's Robby Shelton at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters and Lee McCoy at the Linger Longer Invitational. He's a two-time Southern California Amateur champion and in August will look to defend his prestigious title at the Western Amateur.

5. Cheng-Tsung Pan | Miaoli County, Taiwan | -1145

The Washington Husky senior is a three-time winner already, including victories at the Amer Ari Invitational and the Querencia Cabo Collegiate. He and teammate Corey Pereira, the 2014 Pacific Coast Amateur champion, were co-champions at the San Diego State hosted Lamkin Classic, as well. Pan, a native of Taiwan, will hope to have one last crack at the NCAA National Championship with his Huskies in May, having plenty of experience from winning the East Regional in 2013.

6. Romain Langasque, France
7. Robby Shelton, Alabama
8. Gary Hurley, Ireland
9. Lee McCoy, Georgia
10. Ben Eccles, Australia

Click the link below for a full list of 2015 World Player-of- the-Year Rankings.

FULL RANKINGS

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