Jon Rahm is relishing the chance to play alongside Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka in a star-studded group at the Charles Schwab Challenge.

The PGA Tour returns without spectators this week and the top three players in the world will play together across Thursday and Friday at Colonial Country Club.

Rahm was also playing with McIlroy and Koepka in a featured group at The Players Championship, which was suspended mid-tournament in March as the coronavirus pandemic brought the golf calendar to a halt.

After three months without play, Rahm accepts form and the world rankings can largely be discounted.

"I'm not surprised I must say," world number two Rahm said of playing alongside McIlroy and Koepka.

"I figured they were going to entice the viewers with a couple of really, really good groups.

"When we played at The Players, me and Rory were coming in in really good form. Brooks maybe wasn't playing his best golf, but Brooks has the ability to come through in the biggest events.

"We were looking forward to a couple of fun days, especially Friday, and we kind of got, obviously, for really bad reasons, stripped of that opportunity. So, I'm glad to be experiencing this again."

He added: "No crowd, like we probably would have had in this group, but still fun to play with the best players in the world, see what everybody has been up to and see how it goes.

"It's hard to say anymore who's the best in the world after not competing for three months.

"It all depends on who's prepared the best or who's handled the situation the best or who even handles these new rules on the PGA Tour the best.

"It's just a ranking. It's a continuously moving thing, and since we've been stopped, I don't think those numbers matter a lot anymore. We can only come back and prove that we deserve that spot."

Rahm finished one shot behind Kevin Kisner at Colonial in 2017, while Koepka was second to Justin Rose the following year.

American Kevin Na is the defending champion.