Jon Rahm has become the number one of world golf after winning the Memorial, of the PGA Tour, 31 years after his admired Seve Ballesteros, who led the ranking for 61 weeks in different sections.
To do so, Rahm had to win the Memorial, held in Dublin (Ohio), his first title of the season, and he did it with a wide advantage over the rest despite having some complicated moments. The emotion and the importance of this triumph could be seen in Rahm’s face at the end of his round, first in the hug to his wife and then in the television interview.
But it was not an easy victory, despite the final five strokes of advantage. And the Spanish golfer won after a last round with ups and downs, in which his rivals, except for the American Ryan Palmer, were erased in the fight for the victory, including a Rory McIlroy, unsuccessful and far from defending his number one.
In fact, Rahm’s main enemy was himself. From very early on he was alone, with a clear difference over the rest, up to seven strokes, and that’s when the doubts and failures came.
After two birdies in the first half of the course, holes 5 and 7, it seemed to be all done. However, a bogey on the 10th and a double bogey on the 11th put some uncertainty in the future of the tournament. It was time to calm down and calm the nerves.
After two pars, another bogey, after going through the bunker, left the Basque with only three ahead of Palmer, who once again saw himself with a chance of victory and not afraid to take risks. It was a tense and exciting finish, with a player who had lost confidence and with a lot to lose and another with everything to gain.
That is what was seen on the 15th hole, where both missed their second shot and had to settle for par (5). But then came the 16th, the Basque player missed his tee shot on that par 3 and was left off the green. It was the moment to remember the quality of the new world number one who, with a splendid approach shot, holed a golden birdie. His shout of jubilation showed all the tension he had accumulated over the last few holes.
However, at the end of the round he was penalized with two more strokes, understanding that on that hole for illegally crushing the grass before making the shot from off the green, and he was given a bogey. Then came the 17th and 18th, which he finished with two pars.
His card was 75 strokes (+3), after adding the two penalty strokes, for a total of 279 (-9), 3 less than American Ryan Palmer, who was second with 282 (-6).
Thus, Rahm becomes the second Spanish golfer and the ninth European golfer to lead the world golf, and he does so at only 25 years of age and with a professional career from which much is still expected, especially in the absence of lifting some of the major tournaments of world golf.
The Basque golfer thus joins his name to those of the greats of golf since this ranking was established in 1986, with the German Bernhard Langer as the first world number one. Those were the years of Seve, Nick Faldo, Greg Norman or Iam Woosnam. Precisely the South African is the second player in number of weeks at the top of this ranking, with 331. Only Tiger Woods is ahead with 683, who was then the great dominator of this sport.
Now Rahm, who replaces Northern Ireland’s Mcllory at the top of the ranking, joins the list of illustrious golfers, and does so with plenty of room for improvement. His youth, his humility and his desire to continue learning are his best weapons to go much further.
Despite the fact that he has yet to win a major, his professional record already includes high-class tournaments, all of which are marked by consistency. The Memorial is his fourth PGA Tour title, following the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open, CareerBuilder Challenge 2018 and the 2019 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
More successes he reaped on the European circuit, with six tournaments, in addition to finishing number one in the Race to Dubai -formerly European Order of Merit- last year. Among them, two Spanish Opens, 2018 and 2019, two Irish Opens (2017and 2019) and two DP World Tour Championship Dubai (2017 and 2019).
He still has the subject of winning one of the Majors, although he came close in the last two years. Third at the US Open and ninth at the Masters last year, and fourth at the 2018 Masters and 2018 US PGA show that he is very close to achieving it.
To all this, we must add his participation in the European team that disputed the Ryder Cup in 2018, where he stood out in the European triumph, in the competition that took place in Versailles (Paris).
But Rahm has already begun to show how much he is demonstrating in his amateur career with Arizona State University after only four seasons as a professional. The Barrika native has been the only golfer to win the annual Ben Hogan Award, which honors the best amateur and collegiate men’s golfer, on two occasions.
He was also named the 2016 winner of the Jack Nicklaus Award for best collegiate golfer in the United States, and in 2014 he won the World Amateur Championship.
Jon Rahm’s past and present is already impressive, his future remains to be seen, but he has everything to become legendary.
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