Rahm’s win comes on heels of family pain
On the course, Jon Rahm’s emotions are close to the surface.
The same was true after his victory Sunday in the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club.
He was elated to win Jack Nicklaus’ tournament and ascend to the No. 1 spot in the world ranking, previously accomplished by only one other Spaniard, the late Seve Ballesteros.
But he was also reflective. Rahm revealed that his grandmother and great aunt died recently, not directly from COVID-19 but from the toll from isolation.
“I think they did pass away because of the mental effects of the quarantine,” Rahm said. “Both of them were in nursing homes.
“My mom’s mom is the person that when I was growing up spent the most amount of time with me, outside my parents. She taught me so many things, and I have so many memories with her. She passed away actually (June 24), and then yesterday is when they took her ashes to her family rest spot in Madrid. It’s so emotional, you know.”
He said he was also close to his great aunt.
“It goes to show there’s more important things in life than … what I accomplished today,” Rahm said. “We’re going through a pandemic. People are dying. … I hope we can get through this. I hope we can all be as safe as possible and get to life as normal as possible as soon as possible.”
Rahm’s sadness about his grandmother and great aunt was balanced by joy that his brother’s wife recently gave birth to their first daughter. Achieving golf ’s top ranking, a goal since he was a teenager, just added to it.
“How many people get to achieve … a short lifelong dream, in their mid-20s?” Rahm said. “It’s incredible. To be a Spaniard, the second Spaniard to ever do it, given there’s not many Europeans that have gotten to this spot, so I’m going to enjoy it for a while.”
The ‘other’ winner
Ryan Palmer had no way of knowing Rahm would be penalized two strokes because Rahm’s ball moved on the 16th-hole chip-in that seemingly had put Palmer four shots down.
The penalty wasn’t confirmed until after the round, so Palmer was more concerned with fending off contenders below him. He did that, finishing at 6 under, one shot ahead of Matthew Fitzpatrick.
“At the end of the day, I guess I won the other tournament,” Palmer said. “Coming in the last two holes, I told myself, ‘I’ve got a two-shot lead. Let’s at least clear up second.’”
After missing the cut at the Workday Charity Open, Palmer went back to Texas to work with his coach and retrieve the putter he used early in his career.
“I’m pretty proud to come back this week after last week,” he said. “I go home, I find out what’s going on, I get an old putter, and then come out and play this kind of golf for these four days. Man, I’m going to go enjoy this. I obviously didn’t win, but it felt like a victory, for sure.”
Day encouraged
Westerville resident Jason Day was pleased with his two-week run at Muirfield Village, his home course. He finished seventh in the Workday and tied for fourth in the Memorial, the only player to finish in the top 10 in both.
He was happier about his play in the Memorial, which was set up to play tougher.
“That was important,” he said. “I needed a good week to secure myself into Memphis (for the WGCFedex St. Jude Invitational). It’s been awhile since I’ve missed one of those.” brabinowitz@dispatch.com @brdispatch