By Rahul Banerji
Jon Rahm reeled in his second title in as many starts on the PGA Tour with a nervy win at The American Express in California on Sunday.
It followed his spectacular come-from-behind charge in Hawaii that saw him hunt down Collin Morikawa in the final round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions two weeks ago.
Rahm’s ninth title in 134 PGA Tour starts lifted him to third in the Official World Golf Ranking and to the top of the FedEx standings.
Behind the in-form Spaniard, Korean star Joohyung ‘Tom’ Kim enjoyed his third top-10 of the season, the PGA Tour said.
The 20-year-old maintained his consistent form with a closing five-under 67 at PGA West Stadium Course in La Quinta to finish tied sixth on 23-under 265, four behind the winner.
But the day clearly belonged to Rahm as the 28-year-old made it back-to-back wins following his triumph at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii two weeks ago.
Rahm (64-64-65-68) fought all day with rookie Davis Thomson (62-64-67-69) before pulling ahead with a pivotal nine-foot birdie on 16 for an eventual one-stroke victory on 27-under 261.
The American Express victory was also Rahm’s second following his success in 2018.
“Heck of a start. Heck of a start. Obviously, Sentry and this one are very, very different golf courses and very different golf,” Rahm would say later.
“You still have to go low in both of them. So luckily the mentality is the same,” added Rahm, who has won four times in his last six starts worldwide, including twice on the DP World Tour.
“Body’s been feeling great. My swing’s been feeling really, really good. And it shows.
On point
“Even when I’m saying I may not be as comfortable as I would like, I’m shooting 64s because everything is just firing when it needs to.
“I’m, in a weird way, glad that today went the way it went. I’ve enjoyed some runaway victories, I’ve enjoyed some comebacks, but today was certainly a struggle.
“Out of the five birdies I made, what is it, one, two, three of them were tap-ins and the other two were basically six-footers. So that tells you the story.”
Kim, who won the Wyndham Championship and Shriners Children’s Open last year to announce his arrival on the global stage, fell short of his ambitious bid to emulate Tiger Woods in reaching a third tour victory in what was his 23rd start.
However, his strong finish has pushed him up to second place on the latest FedExCup standings behind Rahm.
Starting the day five back, Kim birdied three of his opening five holes to stay in contention but his good run came to a halt after he dropped two shots before the turn.
He responded swiftly with a fourth birdie when he fired his third shot to 21 inches. Kim picked up three more birdies on his inward nine.
Compatriot Sungjae Im was Asia’s next best performer at T18 following a final round 69 for 20-under while Sony Open in Hawaii winner Si Woo Kim and Byeong Hun An closed with a 66 and 69 for T22 and T41 respectively.
Also read: Rahm storms to Sentry ToC title as Morikawa implodes at Kapalua
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