Jon Rahm had a more eventful Sunday than most of us could imagine. Playing alongside his close friend and former teammate, Ryan Palmer, Rahm’s roller coaster ride to the number one spot on the planet went from an eight-shot lead to a slim three-shot victory that was way closer than it sounds.
Even still, Rahm found a way to salvage a brutal five over par 41 on the back nine, which included a two-shot penalty, to join his idol Seve Ballesteros as the only Spaniards to reach #1 in the world.
Muirfield Village Playing Tough
Rahm’s day began like it was his to lose. He started the day with a comfortable cushion, and for the first nine holes, the only contender to put up a decent fight was Muirfield Village itself.
The course made the best golfers in the world look like weekend duffers at the local municipal. Rahm cruised through a steady front nine with seven pars and birdies on the two par 5’s. Just as Sunday afternoon viewers were looking for something else to watch, the final pairing made the turn.
Rahm looked a little shaky with his first bogey of the day on #10. No big deal. The big lead allowed for a small crack in his armor. Then he sent his tee shot into the creek on the par 5 11th, which led to a double-bogey, and, as Palmer would claim later, it was game on.
Could this really happen two weeks in a row at Muirfield? Just seven days earlier, Justin Thomas took a three-shot lead into the always unpredictable final three holes only to lose in a playoff to Collin Morikawa.
Even with the rough start to the back nine and a weather delay of almost an hour, it still felt like Rahm’s day. The always affable Ryan Palmer watched the potential train wreck from up close as he negotiated with Muirfield for a break or two of his own.
He continued to lurk, but when the dust finally settled, Rahm found a way.
“One of the best performances of my life,” Rahm said. “Yesterday was probably one of the best rounds of my life and finished today with some clutch up-and-downs. As a Spaniard, I’m kind of glad it happened that way.”
Number One in the World
That’s the kind of thing a winner can say, especially one that gets to fist-bump the legendary Jack Nicklaus on a day he becomes the top player in the world.
“I still can’t believe it, I’m not going to lie,” Rahm told Nicklaus off the 18th green.
The final bit of drama seemed fitting as Rahm chipped in from the rough just off the 16th green for what could have been a birdie for the all-time Memorial highlight reel. Rahm wasn’t even aware until after the round that officials were examining a slight movement of the ball that would change the potentially iconic birdie into a bogey.
“It doesn’t change the outcome of the tournament,” he said. “It just puts a little bit of an asterisk in it, in the sense of I wish I could just keep that birdie because it was one of the greatest shots of my life, right?”
It certainly was. It was also a perfect scenario for a wild day that would end with John Rahm standing atop the PGA universe.
