Rahm is hero at idol Tiger’s den
: Jon Rahm held his nerves, withstood some serious pressure from Tony Finau and made his aggression count on the five par-five holes at the Albany Golf Course to win the Hero World Challenge on his debut appearance at the 18-player invitational tournament on a warm and humid Sunday afternoon.
His 20-under 268 over four days was four shots ahead of Finau who kept pace with the Spaniard till the 14th hole where the tall 29-year-old American of Samoan and Tongan origin made a double bogey. The 24-year-old Rahm birdied that hole and suddenly shot into a three-shot lead.
Finau mishit his tee shot wide left of the green and beyond the rope. He hit his recovery shot into the bunker. The second recovery shot went into the swale on the other side of the green and he finished with a double bogey.
The 14th, like the 7th, is a driveable par-four and a likely hole for birdie. Rahm repeated what he did on the seventh. Finau matched him on the seventh but faltered on the 14th. Rahm birdied all five par-fives. Finau managed to birdie just two of them. That made the difference in the end. A late charge by Justin Rose took him to third at 15-under 273.
EMOTIONAL MOMENT
“You know, that Sunday with Tiger (Rahm defeated Woods in singles in the Ryder Cup in Paris) is one of the most emotional, most important moments in my golf career. I started crying when I was shaking his hand because that meant so much to me to play against Tiger Woods. A couple months later to win his event, this
is really special. I grew up watching all those events and watching Tiger win so many times,” Rahm said after his victory.
Incidentally, Rahm’s golfing career took off in 2016 when as an amateur he got an invite for the Quicken Loans National PGA event at the Congressional, hosted by the Tiger Woods Foundation. He finished third there and that earned him the PGA card. “Today, I really wasn’t looking at anybody else. I just stuck to myself, stayed really in the present, never got ahead,” Rahm added.