The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Rahm – ‘golf can kick you in the mouth’
World No 1 golfer Jon Rahm was brought down to earth by a disappointing performance in the US PGA Championship yesterday.
Rahm was the pretournament favourite at Oak Hill after winning his second major title in the Masters last month, his fourth victory of the season.
However, the Ryder Cup star was never in contention following an opening round of 76 and subsequent rounds of 68, 72 and 71 left him well down the field on seven over par.
“It’s golf,” Rahm said. “When you think ‘Oh, I got this’ it kicks you in the mouth and you have to start over again. It happens to everybody.
“It wasn’t my best week, but I don’t think it was terrible either. It kind of reminds me of how I did at the Arnold Palmer (a tie for 39th being his worst result of the season).
“Obviously, this is a terribly difficult set-up and exposes a lot of your weaknesses.
“Some other tournaments we play throughout the year I think I could have snuck out a really good finish. Just not out here.”
Rahm had been caught on microphone complaining about the par-three 11th hole during round two, but added: “I know what I said about 11 on Friday, but that was more the pin location than anything else.
“I think it’s extremely difficult, but it is fair.
“If you hit the shot, you are going to get rewarded.
“The greens, they have slope to them, but none of them are a crazy slope. If you hit it to the centre of the green on every hole, you’re going to have a good chance.
“A lot of times if you miss the fairway, you have a chance to run it up to the green.
“It’s doable. It’s just difficult. You have to play incredible golf.”
Meanwhile, club professional Michael Block’s fairytale week at Oak Hill continued with a hole-in-one in the final round.
Playing alongside fourtime major winner Rory Mcilroy, Block’s tee shot on the par-three 15th slammed straight into the hole for an eagle to get him back to level par for the day. The 46-year-old, who is the head professional at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in California, struggled to believe what had just happened, saying: “No, no. No way. Rory did it go in?”
After retrieving his ball Block realised that it had damaged the hole and that there would be a slight delay while that was repaired.
“I will cause that delay every time, I don’t care,” he told his caddie.