Rahm tries for an Open double

With long odds of winning the British Open in his bid to capture golf’s two oldest championships in the same year, Jon Rahm went down swinging.

He was five shots behind going into the last round, not insurmountable except that no one had come from that far back in Sunday at a major since Phil Mickelson in the 2013 British Open.

And the U.S. Open champion had his chance except for too many medium-length birdie chances skirting the side of the cup. Even so, he ran off four straight birdies on the back nine before he had to settle for two pars and a 4-under 66.

That gave him a tie for third, four shots behind Collin Morikawa.

“I think the main part of my game that could have been a little bit better is putting,” Rahm said. “Not that I’m asking to make very putt, but I really struggled to make putts outside 8 feet . ... There was a lot of chances out there that I could have made, or that I know that guys out there ahead of me are making.”

Still, the 26-year-old Spaniard capped off perhaps the best year in the majors. He is the only player to finish in the top 10 at all four majors — a tie for fifth at the Masters, a tie for eighth in the PGA Championship, a win at the U.S. Open and a tie for third at the PGA Championship.

And as a small consolation, he returned to No. 1 in the world.

Birdies and bogeys. Rory Mcilroy made it through a seventh straight year since he last won a major, and except for a brief moment of Sunday contention at the U.S. Open, he wasn’t particularly close.

He tied for seventh at Torrey Pines. He didn’t finish among the top 40 at the PGA Championship or the British Open. He didn’t make it to the weekend at Augusta National.

“If you want someone to shoot even par for you for a week, I’m your man,” Mcilroy said.

That’s where he finished at Royal St. George’s.

Making birdies wasn’t an issue. Mcilroy made 17 of them for the week — two fewer than Collin Morikawa, who beat him by 15 shots. It’s pretty easy to figure out the rest.

Divots. Jordan Spieth and Mackenzie Hughes shot in the 60s all four rounds, making them the first players since Rickie Fowler in 2014 to do that without winning.

The other two players to have done that in the British Open are Ernie Els (twice) and Jesper Parnevik.