Stressful time pays off
Jon Rahm could have done without the stress he faced over the final two hours in the Mexico Open. It still was worth it to pick up his first victory since the US Open last year. Rahm rolled in a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-5 14th hole to pull out of a fourway tie for the lead, and he had to make two tough pars and a finish more nervy than he expected.
The relief and satisfaction was evident when he tapped in for par on the final hole at Vidanta Vallarta for a one-shot victory. He pumped his arm and then pounded his fist downward, and at that point he looked skyward and exhaled.
“[Yesterday] was a battle,” Rahm said. “But I got it done.”
Tony Finau and Brandon Wu each closed with a 63, while Kurt Kitayama birdied the final hole from a back bunker for a 68. They tied for second.
Rahm had a couple of close calls in Mexico City when it was a World Golf Championship at Chapultepec. Now the Mexico Open, which has a history dating to 1944, is a regular PGA Tour event for the first time. And it got a popular winner.
Against one of the weaker fields of the year — Rahm at No 2 was the only player from the top 15 in the world — the Spaniard was a heavy favourite and he played that way from his opening 64. He just didn’t feel any expectations.
“I like to think every time I tee it up, I’m a favourite. I play to win,” Rahm said. “Fortunately, I got my seventh PGA Tour win. It was a pretty stressful weekend, all the way to the end.”
Staked to a two-shot lead going in to the final round, he never trailed. But it was never easy.
Rahm’s had a one-shot lead after his lone bogey of the round on the tough par4 10th.
Well ahead of him, Wu holed a 25-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole to join him at 16 under. Kitayama, playing in the final group with Rahm, got up-and-down from right of the green on the par-5 12th to tie. And then Finau went birdie-eagle-birdie to get in the mix and capped off his 63 with a birdie to make it a four-way tie.
Rahm never lost his patience. His chip left of the green on the par-5 14th raced 12 feet by the hole, but he hit his best putt of the round and made it for birdie for a one-shot lead.
His wedge to the 15th came up short and his chip ran 5 feet by the hole. He made that to stay in front, and then had to twoputt from 50 feet on the 16th for his par. Rahm missed a 10-foot birdie putt on the 17th that would have given him room for error.
Still, the closing par 5 at Vidanta Vallarta is easily reachable, and Rahm birdied it the three previous times. This time, his fade stayed straight, and instead of dropping into the bunker, it nestled in deep rough on a steep slope just above the sand. He did well to punch that out just over a waste area and into the fairway.
His approach to a back pin just trickled off the green, and he navigated the slick putt perfectly to a few inches.