Jon Rahm (+4) has bid farewell to the US Open with three consecutive birdies on holes 16, 17, and 18. A grand finale. Victory was already out of reach, but this final push is much more than just a simple touch-up. He has turned the week around like a sock. He has secured a top 10 finish, and we’ll see if it’s not something more when the day ends. Play was interrupted by a suspension due to a downpour barely an hour after Rahm finished. Even that worked out well for him.
Nothing suggested that the day would end so well for Jon. It’s true that he was particularly sharp off the tee. He only missed two fairways badly. One was the 9th, although it went so far right that it ended up in an area trodden by the public and, therefore, was left perfect for him. He even got relief because the ground was oozing water. Impeccable. The other was the 14th. Again with the driver, it went longer than expected and ended up horribly in the left rough. Not much to do from there.
Jon was very orderly off the tee, but he lacked some finesse in his approach shots to the green to leave himself clearer birdie chances. He was almost always putting from very far away, from eight metres or more. It was essentially a ‘boring’ round. And we can’t think of a better compliment for someone playing at Oakmont. If you manage to make it boring, it means you’re hitting the ball very well.
It felt like the day was following the line of Saturday. He made a birdie on the 4th and a bogey on the 7th after missing the second shot to the bunker. From there, he missed a great birdie chance on the 12th hole and another relatively easy one on the 15th, a corner of the course that is playing really tough today. At that moment, it seemed that if the round was going to break one way, it would be for the worse, like on Saturday. But no.
Rahm is one of those who plays golf with the firm belief that you should always expect the best to happen. If there are three holes left, you can still make three birdies. If you can finish 37th, better than ending 39th. It’s in his DNA. He fights for every shot. That attitude, which not everyone has, usually gets rewarded. Jon’s reward came on the 16th hole, with a bit of luck. His tee shot wasn’t the best, but miraculously the ball stayed at the back of the green, perched on a hump that prevented it from going into the rough. From there, he sank a 14-metre putt, the longest of the week. That’s where the festival began. Everything that hadn’t happened in the previous 69 holes…
On the 17th hole, he missed the green to the left, into the rough. His ball only needed to open a bit more to be excellent and leave himself an eagle chance. His approach from the tall grass was masterful, hitting the flagstick after bouncing on the green and stopping dead half a metre from the hole. Easy birdie. His 18th hole was the best of the week. Textbook. He hit a drive with the wind behind him over 340 yards, and his second shot with the 8-iron was also one of the best of the week. He left it half a metre away. Birdie without suffering. In today’s round, he made as many birdies (4) as in the previous 54 holes. Rahm finally opened the can, although it was too late to fight for the victory.
In any case, Jon achieves his 15th top 10 finish in the Majors at Oakmont. That’s 15 in 35 appearances. Not bad at all. As for the US Open, a tournament he returned to after a year of absence due to a foot infection, he has his fourth top 10 in his last six appearances. Not bad either. A good result to climb the world rankings and earn points in the Ryder and the Race to Dubai.
