“I have given myself the opportunity…, if I manage to play well from 9 to 12, facing the last seven holes well, you might think you have a chance, but the way the wind was, dropping a little in intensity, difficult, but I could having made the lowest round of the tournament”, was Jon Rahm’s first reflection in the mixed zone at the conclusion of his participation in this British Open at Royal Troon.
Jon Rahm, results
“I have played very well, the course is hard and difficult, this week in general I have done a great job, of not getting desperate when things did not go well, I have saved many pars, I play short very well but there has not been that moment of having 9 holes in which everything goes well for you…In general I could have hit the irons a little better and made some putts of a certain length and done better on the par 5s, yes, I have given myself the options but it hasn’t worked out and it hasn’t.
“I remember finishing top ten in a major without having made a birdie on the par fives,” added the Basque. Rahm valued his performance “a little like the rest of the year, it took a little while to give me more options, to finish the first two days, to be in a winning position.” And now the Olympic Games.
from Paris, ahead of LIV in Manchester this week. “It bothered me not to be able to go to Japan, and now to be part of the Spanish team, where I have competed with Spain since I was 13 years old, I hope I can continue playing well and I hope I can add the medal,” Jon concluded.
After the US Open, Jon Rahm joined the professional ranks, which invalidated his qualification for the 2016 British Open. In his first tournament as a professional, the Quicken Loans National, he was in the lead, alone or tied, during the first two rounds, and finally finished third, four strokes behind the winner Billy Hurley III.
This performance allowed him to qualify again for the British Open, the Quicken Loans National being one of the qualifying tournaments. He finished 2nd at the RBC Canadian Open, securing special temporary member status on the PGA Tour for the remainder of the season.
He also obtained enough points as a non-member to earn a card on the PGA Tour for the 2017 season. On January 29, 2017, he won the Farmers Insurance Open thanks to a 60-foot putt for Eagle on the last hole. A few weeks later, he announced that he would also play on the PGA5 European Tour.
In March, he played the first World Golf Championships tournaments of his career, the WGC-Mexico Championship which he finished 3rd, then the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, a match-play tournament in which he finished 2nd, beaten in the final by the world number 1, the American Dustin Johnson.
He won his second title of the year, and the first on the European tour, during the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open with a 6-stroke lead over the runners-up.