BATTERING RAHM
Spaniard claims No. 1 ranking after cruising to win at Memorial
DUBLIN, Ohio — Jon Rahm knew this was going to be a difficult day. Maybe not this difficult. Winning on the PGA Tour always is difficult.
Winning on a golf course that was set up to repel shots with treacherous conditions that resembled a major championship can be stressful.
Knowing a win would elevate you to No. 1 in the world rankings at the tender age of 25 adds pressure. And knowing the only other player from your home country who’s reached No. 1 in the world is your mentor, Seve Ballesteros, adds a tricky bit of emotion into the equation.
As expected, it was not an easy day for Rahm, but when it ended, he emerged as not only the Memorial Tournament champion, but ranked No. 1 in the world.
Rahm shot a final-round, 3-over 75 to finish 9-under for the week and win the Memorial Tournament, holding off Ryan Palmer by three shots.
“One of the best performances of my life,’’ Rahm said.
Rahm began the final round with a four-shot lead and, as he made the turn, the lead was eight shots. But even then, his day was not easy.
He bogeyed the 10th hole. And then, after yanking his tee shot into the water on No. 11, Rahm took double bogey and his lead was down to four shots, half of what it was minutes before.
Rahm then made a sloppy bogey on No. 14, a short par-4 he should devour, and his lead was down to three shots, where it would remain through the 15th hole.
“The conditions were so tough, I knew
I wasn’t going to play
18 perfect holes,’’
Rahm said. “I knew at some point something was going to go south. Unfortunately for me,
Ryan played amazing when I started playing bad.’’
The week before on the same
golf course, Muirfield Village Golf Club, Justin Thomas held a three-shot lead with three holes to play in the final round of the Workday Charity Open and he lost to Collin Morikawa in a playoff.
So, it didn’t appear be over … until the par-3 16th hole, where Rahm chipped in for what was believed at the time to be a birdie to extend the lead to four again. Considering the circumstances, it was the biggest shot of Rahm’s career — a scramble that his idol, the late Ballesteros, would have loved given that he was the greatest scrambler in the history of the game. Rahm let out a massive fist pump and yell. As he walked past his friend and playing partner, Palmer gave him a low five.
“I just said I was proud of him and told him I was proud of him,’’ Palmer said.
Rahm called the chip-in “exactly what I needed,’’ adding that it “will probably go down so far as my greatest chip shot. I don’t know if I’ll ever top that.’’
At the time, it appeared to be a chip-in for birdie and a four-shot lead. But wait, there would be more stress. TV cameras caught Rahm moving his ball ever so slightly in the rough with his wedge as he placed it behind the ball before chipping in.
As Rahm played on not knowing the situation, PGA Tour rules officials scoured the videotape to determine whether a penalty should be assessed.
Fortunately for Rahm, Palmer bogeyed 17 to fall five shots back. So when Rahm was given a two-shot penalty when he signed his scorecard, it did not affect the outcome.
Instead of winning by five shots, as it appeared when he and Palmer finished on No. 18, he won by three shots.
Rahm said he had no idea he moved his ball before the chip.
“I did not see or feel anything,’’ Rahm said. “I don’t want to win by cheating. Had I seen it, I would have said something. I’m looking at my landing spot, I’m not really thinking of looking at the golf ball.
“I want everybody to hear it: It did move. It is a penalty. It did move, so I’ll accept the penalty. It still doesn’t change the outcome of the tournament. It still doesn’t take anything away from the shot. It’s not going to take anything away from today.
“Unfortunately, it’s going to have bittersweet feeling to what was possibly one of the greatest shots of my career, the shot that gave me the victory. It just puts a little bit of an asterisk in it in the sense of I wish I could just keep that birdie because it was one of the greatest shots of my life.’’
Rahm overtook Rory McIlroy for the No. 1 ranking, which he had held since Feb. 9.
When it was over, Rahm was greeted on No. 18 by tournament host Jack Nicklaus, who gave him a fist bump instead of the traditional handshake.
“I’m just trying to be like you,’’ Rahm told Nicklaus.