Thirteenth tops ladder
RISING Spanish star Jon Rahm had his first victory on home soil on Sunday after overtaking overnight leader Paul Dunne of Ireland to win the Spanish Open by two strokes.
The 23-year-old, coming off a fourth-place finish at the Masters last weekend, carded six birdies in a closing round of 67 to finish 20 under for the tournament at the Centro Na- cional de Golf in Madrid.
The world number four earned his fifth career title, three of which have come on the European Tour, and joined the likes of Seve Ballesteros, Sergio Garcia and Miguel Angel Jimenez as winners of the Spanish event.
“It’s such a satisfying feeling,” he said.
“When I made the decision to come straight from Augus- ta it wouldn’t be to just show up and walk around, I wanted to win this tournament,” Rahm told europeantour.com. “It’s been amazing. It’s been the hardest Sunday I’ve ever had in any tournament that I’ve won because the crowd wanted it so much and I wanted it so much.
“You can tell how excited everybody is, I felt that tension, I felt that stress, I felt everything magnified.
“They played a huge part, I came for them mainly so I’m just glad I can win this one for the Spanish people.”
Dunne, who led Nacho Elvira by a stroke going into the final round, finished on 18 under par while Elvira dropped to third place on 17 under after finding the water for a double bogey on the penultimate hole. AFP