It happened what nobody, or almost nobody, could imagine. Scottie Scheffler opened the door of the PGA Championship. He unlatched it, turned the knob, and left it ajar. Then, of course, you needed the guts and the golf to push the door open and step inside. DeChambeau didn’t do it, nor Noren, nor Si Woo Kim, nor Poston, nor Riley, nor Fitzpatrick. The only one who could was Jon Rahm. The man from Barrika stepped in with both feet and even managed to brush one of the handles of the Wanamaker Trophy with his fingertips.
For a quarter of an hour, there was a Spanish Grand Slam. It lasted exactly 14 minutes. Between 22:48, Spanish peninsular time, and 23:02. That’s the time between two birdie putts, Jon’s on the 11th and Scheffler’s on the 10th. At that moment, Rahm made an entire country dream. He made what seemed an absolutely impossible mission appear viable. He was tied for the lead at -9. The first Spanish PGA in history, within reach. We had to believe. Jon, once again, had convinced us all.
It wasn’t a wild start to Rahm’s round. Quite the opposite. He was making pars, playing orderly, but without giving himself birdie chances. He wasn’t even able to take advantage of what seemed an obligation, the par 5 of the 7th hole. He wasn’t doing anything extraordinary, but it turned out that Scheffler had decided to show his more human side. He passed the first nine holes with a +2 on the day… and thankfully. Jon smelled blood and went for the jugular.
He made birdie on the 8th with a great chip and added two more on the 10th and 11th. The first with another great approach of high quality and the second with a super putt trademark. The kind that are remembered in victories. The next hour of play was crucial. Jon had birdie chances on the 12th and 13th. Everyone still wonders how the one on the 13th didn’t drop into the hole. It seemed inevitable. Pure gravity. But it insolently skirted the left edge.
Jon couldn’t believe it, but he was still in the battle to win the PGA, to close the Spanish Grand Slam. “I had the opportunity to see myself leading the tournament and it was great. It’s not easy to enjoy in such a situation, but I managed to,” he said at the end. He looked smiling, happy, savouring the moment, conveying his usual confidence. It wasn’t a hallucination. Suddenly, the Basque had become the big favourite.
The PGA Championship slipped away definitively on holes 14 and 15. The short par 4 and the par 5. They were two birdies (at least) that had to be made to keep pressing Scottie. Rahm did the hardest part. He played them textbook from tee to green, but failed in the art of finishing. A discreet bunker shot on the first, combined with a reading error on the putt and the worst putt of the day on the second left him without birdies. Without the PGA. He was only one shot behind Scheffler, but the World Number One still had those same holes to play. He didn’t miss them.
The Green Mile was unfairly harsh on Jon. He received a blow too cruel. He didn’t play well, it’s true, he missed the tee shot on the 16th and didn’t recover from the bunker, hit the worst shot of the day on the 17th and ended up in the water and got wet again on the 18th. A five-over in three holes. He had earned the second position, but finished eighth. It doesn’t do him justice. His score on the Green Mile is +18 in three visits. He hasn’t played it under par in a round yet.
Rahm has achieved the third top 10 of his career in the PGA Championship. He already has at least three in all four Majors. That’s eleven in 34 appearances. It sounds quick. But the most important thing is that once again he made an entire country dream of achieving something impossible. The Grand Slam must wait. With guys like Jon Rahm, it’s inevitable to think that sooner or later it will happen. Anyone who doesn’t believe in him has a problem.
