Home hero Jon Rahm delighted the huge crowds at Centro Nacional de Golf as he became the sixth Spanish player to win the Open de España.
The World Number Four, who has moved to fifth in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex, carded a closing 67 to get to 20 under and hold off the challenge of countryman Nacho Elvira and overnight leader Paul Dunne for his third European Tour title.
His three wins have come in just 19 events on the European Tour, making him the third-fastest player to reach that mark, and he joins countrymen Antonio Garrido, Seve Ballesteros, Sergio Garcia, Alvaro Quiros and Miguel Ángel Jiménez as Spanish winners of the event since it joined the European Tour in 1972.
The victory is Rahm’s first as a professional in his homeland after claiming seven national individual amateur titles at various age levels and adds to his two Rolex Series triumphs in Ireland and Dubai last season.
Irishman Dunne signed for a closing 71 to finish at 18 under, a shot clear of Elvira and two ahead of South Africa’s George Coetzee.
Spaniard Jorge Campillo and Scot Marc Warren carded closing rounds of 69 to finish at 15 under alongside Australian Brett Rumford, who finished with a 71, and Swede Henric Sturehed who shot a 72.
Frenchman Julien Guerrier, South African Jacques Kruyswijk and Japan’s Hideto Tanihara finished six shots off the lead.
Player Quotes
Jon Rahm: “It’s such a satisfying feeling. When I made the decision to come straight from Augusta it wouldn’t be to just show up and walk around, I wanted to win this tournament.
“I’ve been blessed to be national champion from 16 to all ages in Spain. To round my amateur and pro career together in this way and win the last one I had to win and join that prestigious list of Spanish winners, it’s hard to explain how good it feels and how satisfying it is.
“That putt on 13 was very important. The up-and-down on 17, I believe that ball staying up out of the hazard was very important. Hitting the drive I hit on 18, I hit a nine iron to that par five. Once I hit it on the fairway I knew the birdie was going to happen but it would not have been set up if it was not for that shot on 17. Lady Luck played a part in this one in that ball staying up and then being able to make the four-footer.
“It’s been amazing. It’s truly been the hardest Sunday I’ve ever had in any tournament that I’ve won because the crowd wanted it so much and I wanted it so much. You can tell how excited everybody is, I felt that tension, I felt that stress, I felt everything magnified. They played a huge part, I came for them mainly so I’m just glad I can win this one for the Spanish people.”
Nacho Elvira: “A little bittersweet, it’s been a fantastic day. One shot cannot summarise the whole day, it was just the wrong shot at the wrong time but I’m really happy. Playing against Jon Rahm is always tough, he’s a great player and I just came up short this time.
“The crowd was probably the best I’ve seen, it’s fantastic to be able to play at home and play with this crowd. Everybody was supporting me and Jon but they were being very respectful of the other players so I think it’s fantastic. It’s good for golf and it’s good for everybody.
“It’s always good to be in contention. Having two holes to go and being in contention in a European Tour event is always good. There are definitely more positives than negatives, if there are any negatives.
“I’m just happy that I turned my game a little bit around from the beginning of the season and hopefully I can keep it up for the next events.”
Paul Dunne: “I felt like I hit the ball great. Mostly my short game let me down a little bit. I hit a lot of chips that I thought were better than they were and I just kept misjudging bounces. Some of them skidded, some of them bounced soft and I feel like when I played for one I got the other result so it’s a little frustrating not to be able to get anything going, not get any putts to go in.
“I hit the ball fantastic, I was hitting it long and straight, so I feel good going into the next few weeks. Obviously disappointed not to win but it is what it is.
“I’m driving the ball great. For me, if I drive the ball well I feel like I have a chance to win every week. I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing.
“I’m a little disappointed but Spain has a great champion in Jon and I’m sure he’ll win many more of these.”
Final Scores
268 J Rahm (Esp) 67 68 66 67,
270 P Dunne (Irl) 66 65 68 71,
271 N Elvira (Esp) 68 66 66 71,
272 G Coetzee (RSA) 72 66 71 63,
273 M Warren (Sco) 66 69 69 69, H Sturehed (Swe) 67 68 66 72, J Campillo (Esp) 70 67 67 69, B Rumford (Aus) 68 66 68 71,
274 H Tanihara (Jpn) 70 70 67 67, J Guerrier (Fra) 67 69 74 64, J Kruyswijk (RSA) 69 70 66 69,
275 A Johnston (Eng) 68 68 69 70, R Cho (Kor) 73 64 73 65, A Otaegui (Esp) 69 70 70 66, Y Miyazato (Jpn) 69 68 72 66, A Cañizares (Esp) 72 67 70 66, S Gros (Fra) 73 67 71 64, A Rai (Eng) 67 71 66 71, M Kieffer (Ger) 69 67 69 70, V Pastor (am) (Esp) 67 72 69 67,
276 A Sullivan (Eng) 75 63 65 73, P Larrazábal (Esp) 71 65 73 67, A Pavan (Ita) 71 67 72 66, R Paratore (Ita) 70 70 68 68, E Van Rooyen (RSA) 67 71 70 68, T Pulkkanen (Fin) 75 65 69 67, S Han (USA) 70 69 68 69,
277 C Shinkwin (Eng) 67 67 72 71, N Colsaerts (Bel) 71 67 71 68, F Aguilar (Chi) 72 66 70 69, M Schwab (Aut) 67 71 69 70, C Bezuidenhout (RSA) 69 71 71 66, R Rock (Eng) 70 65 71 71,
278 J Winther (Den) 69 67 71 71, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 69 68 73 68, A Wu (Chn) 70 70 67 71, R Sterne (RSA) 68 70 72 68, N Bertasio (Ita) 69 70 70 69,
279 B Stone (RSA) 71 67 72 69, D Howell (Eng) 72 66 72 69, J Thomson (Eng) 67 71 69 72, A Björk (Swe) 67 72 68 72, M Manassero (Ita) 69 71 70 69, P Oriol (Esp) 68 71 67 73, S Del Val (Esp) 74 65 68 72,
280 G Green (Mas) 71 68 71 70, S Kim (USA) 69 68 73 70, G Bourdy (Fra) 70 67 71 72, P Angles (Esp) 72 66 69 73, M Fraser (Aus) 71 66 71 72, T Olesen (Den) 68 68 72 72,
281 A Wall (Eng) 70 70 69 72, S Gallacher (Sco) 70 70 71 70, M Baldwin (Eng) 70 69 71 71, R Gouveia (Por) 69 70 72 70, B Dredge (Wal) 71 68 70 72, S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) 69 71 73 68,
282 M Schneider (Ger) 76 63 72 71, J Norris (Aus) 67 71 70 74, D Fichardt (RSA) 69 71 70 72, J Choi (Kor) 70 69 70 73, B Neil (Sco) 71 66 68 77,
283 T Murray (Eng) 72 67 73 71, A Connelly (Can) 72 66 71 74, C Ford (Eng) 70 69 68 76, P Waring (Eng) 68 72 76 67,
284 J Dantorp (Swe) 73 67 74 70, G Storm (Eng) 70 70 73 71, T Fisher Jnr (RSA) 68 72 72 72, D Lipsky (USA) 69 71 75 69,
285 D Burmester (RSA) 73 65 71 76,
286 R Ramsay (Sco) 73 66 72 75,
287 T Jaidee (Tha) 72 67 77 71, J Scrivener (Aus) 70 69 75 73,
141 D Drysdale (Sco) 73 68 0 0, S Jamieson (Sco) 69 72 0 0, R Cabrera Bello (Esp) 73 68 0 0, M Foster (Eng) 72 69 0 0, S Fernandez (Esp) 71 70 0 0, A Quiros (Esp) 70 71 0 0, P Widegren (Swe) 71 70 0 0, S Brown (Eng) 70 71 0 0, P Lawrie (Sco) 76 65 0 0, A Arnaus (Esp) 71 70 0 0, S Kjeldsen (Den) 69 72 0 0, E Goya (Arg) 72 69 0 0, F Zanotti (Par) 74 67 0 0, M Pavon (Fra) 73 68 0 0, S Heisele (Ger) 68 73 0 0, J Colomo (Esp) 71 70 0 0, L Gagli (Ita) 70 71 0 0,
142 C Syme (Sco) 70 72 0 0, C Hanson (Eng) 73 69 0 0, O Fisher (Eng) 72 70 0 0, M Kinhult (Swe) 73 69 0 0, J Quesne (Fra) 70 72 0 0, J Donaldson (Wal) 71 71 0 0, S Tarrio Ben (Esp) 72 70 0 0, C Blomstrand (Swe) 73 69 0 0, L Canter (Eng) 71 71 0 0, N Geyger (Chi) 73 69 0 0, E Molinari (Ita) 72 70 0 0, E Pepperell (Eng) 77 65 0 0, T Detry (Bel) 71 71 0 0, J Smith (Eng) 72 70 0 0, R Fox (Nzl) 70 72 0 0, J Heath (Eng) 71 71 0 0, B McKenzie (am) (Eng) 72 70 0 0,
143 J Sainz (Esp) 74 69 0 0, D Im (USA) 75 68 0 0, A Saddier (Fra) 71 72 0 0, S Horsfield (Eng) 69 74 0 0, N Cullen (Aus) 72 71 0 0, A Bland (Aus) 71 72 0 0, B Evans (Eng) 71 72 0 0, M Nixon (Eng) 74 69 0 0, E De La Riva (Esp) 72 71 0 0, G Fernandez – Castaño (Esp) 73 70 0 0, J Wang (Kor) 73 70 0 0, G Havret (Fra) 72 71 0 0, R Jacquelin (Fra) 71 72 0 0, A Hidalgo (am) (Esp) 72 71 0 0,
144 B Hafthorsson (Isl) 77 67 0 0, T Aiken (RSA) 75 69 0 0, C Koepka (USA) 75 69 0 0, P Khongwatmai (Tha) 76 68 0 0, A Dodt (Aus) 71 73 0 0, R Bland (Eng) 72 72 0 0,
145 R McGowan (Eng) 76 69 0 0, D Horsey (Eng) 72 73 0 0, M Wallace (Eng) 69 76 0 0, T Lewis (Eng) 72 73 0 0, A Del Rey(am) (Esp) 75 70 0 0,
146 L Jensen (Den) 74 72 0 0, M Korhonen (Fin) 76 70 0 0, A Chesters (Eng) 75 71 0 0, O Farr (Wal) 72 74 0 0, G Moynihan (Irl) 72 74 0 0, V Dubuisson (Fra) 74 72 0 0, J Lagergren (Swe) 74 72 0 0, J Morrison (Eng) 74 72 0 0, J Geary (Nzl) 74 72 0 0, N Fasth (Swe) 78 68 0 0,
147 F Fritsch (Ger) 70 77 0 0, D Brooks (Eng) 74 73 0 0, D Kataoka (Jpn) 71 76 0 0,
148 Z Lombard (RSA) 72 76 0 0, A Garcia-Heredia (Esp) 72 76 0 0, S Lee (Kor) 71 77 0 0, C Pigem (Esp) 71 77 0 0, L Slattery (Eng) 72 76 0 0,
149 C Sordet (Fra) 73 76 0 0,
150 R Karlsson (Swe) 78 72 0 0, R Evans (Eng) 70 80 0 0,
152 R McEvoy (Eng) 75 77 0 0,
157 J Gonzalez Courtney (Esp) 83 74 0 0,
