Jon Rahm expects the World Number One spot to change hands on a regular basis due to the high standard of competition at an "exciting time" for golf, but he hopes to recapture it and be the one who can stay at the summit for a while.
Rahm spent the past two weeks at the top of the Official World Golf Ranking after winning the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide on the US PGA Tour but was replaced by Justin Thomas following the American's victory in last week's WGC-FedEx St Jude Invitational on Sunday.
Four different men have held the number one ranking in 2020 already and Rahm would not be surprised to see it bounce around further because of the quality of the players vying for it.
Spaniard Rahm has the opportunity to regain top spot at this week's US PGA Championship as the world's best players gather at TPC Harding Park for the first Major Championship of the year.
But even if he was able to do so, Rahm cannot envisage one person holding on to it for years on end like Tiger Woods has done in the past.
He said: "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 Number One spot.
"I think we might be entering an era where we bounce back and forth. Hopefully that could still be the case where one of us plays well for a while and stays in the Number One spot for a while.
"But since Brooks (Koepka) winning four Majors in basically two years and J.T. (Thomas) now winning three (US PGA Tour) events this season, it's well deserved. It's as simple as that.
"Hopefully we can just battle it out for the rest of the year and battle for Majors 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 because there's so many players with so much talent who are really, really good.
"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, but it's going to take a lot of good play."
Rahm is looking forward to playing in the same group as two people who mean a lot to him on Thursday and Friday - Phil Mickelson and countryman Sergio Garcia.
He added: "It's an honour to play with one of the greatest Spanish players to ever play. I grew up watching him and he's been there for me when I've needed it, as well as Phil.
"If anything, even though me and Sergio are both Spanish countrymen, I spend a lot more time with Phil, with the relationship with him, his brother and I had, being my college coach and then my manager afterwards, and just living here in the States for the last eight years.
"I've spent a lot of time with both. They have both helped me out a lot and it should be a really fun group.
"I'm excited. It's rare that you get a good one like this one, and they both mean a lot to me, so I'm happy to share the stage with them."
