By Rahul Banerji
Destiny’s child Jon Rahm won the 121st US Open in San Diego on Sunday even as the brutal back nine at Torrey Pines and the pressure-cooker situation consumed his closest challengers.
The 26-year-old became the first Spaniard to win the US Open, which was also his first Major win.
Overall, it was new daddy Jon’s sixth title on the PGA Tour.
At the Memorial tournament two weeks ago, Rahm was taken off the course with a six-shot 54-hole lead thanks to a positive Covid test. Quarantine followed and he emerged in time for the US Open
“I’m a big believer in karma, and after what happened a couple weeks ago, I stayed really positive knowing good things were coming,” Rahm said after his dramatic win.
“I didn’t know what it was going to be, but I knew we were coming to a special place.
“I just felt like the stars were aligning, and I knew my best golf was to come.”
Two stunning, swerving putts on 17 and 18 coming out of the sand set the bar for those behind and carried Rahm to 6-under par 278 including a final bogey-free 67.
Fading challenge
The challenge from a crowded pursuing pack imploded after that. At one point on Sunday, 10 players had been separated by one shot.
Overnight joint leader Louis Oosthuizen pushed it as far as he could but two hooked drives including on the last-chance saloon 18th did him in.
It was the feisty South African’s sixth runner-up finish in a Major other than his 2010 Open Championship, and left him with a growing bridesmaid’s reputation.
Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau actually led at the turn but was done in by a horrific back nine.
DeChambeau bogeyed 11 and 12, and double-bogeyed 13.
On 17, a quadruple bogey eight saw him go hopping through the thick Torrey Pines rough and then blade a wedge over the green.
From hoping for a rare double, DeChambeaue (73-69-68-77) came home in a shambolic 6-over and a 287 aggregate that saw him tie for 26th place.
Rory McIlroy was on Oosthuizen and Rahm’s shoulder till a careless three-putt on the par-3 11th and a double on 12 erased his hopes.
None of this could match the tragedy of Oosthuizen’s miss. Making it worse was the result came just a month after he finished second to Phil Mickelson at the PGA Championship.
“It’s frustrating. It’s disappointing,” a philosophical Oosthuizen (67-71-70-71) said afterwards.
Repeat tragedy
“I’m playing good golf, but winning a major championship is not just going to happen. You need to go out and play good golf. I played good today, but I didn’t play good enough.”
In all the carnage, it was Rahm’s bogey-free closing nine, the only one amongst the leaders that brought some calm to proceedings.
After dropping a shot on 4 against three birdies Rahm (69-70-72- 67) kept a clean slate on the back nine till those two putts that gave him the lead for good and all.
It was the 26-year-old’s 108th PGA Tour start, and made him the fourth from Spain after Seve Ballesteros, Jose-Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia to win a Major, in his 20th appearance.
He also takes over the world’s top ranking from Dustin Johnson who held the honour consecutively for the last 43 weeks.
Coincidentally, Torrey Pines is also where Rahm won his first PGA Tour title, the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open.
“It felt like such a fairy tale story that I knew it was going to have a happy ending,” Rahm told pgatour.com.
“I could just tell, just going down the fairway after that first tee shot, that second shot, and that birdie, there was something special in the air.
“I just knew it.”
Also read: Memorial thrown wide open with in-form Rahm’s Covid withdrawal
Discover more from Tee Time Tales
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.