Jon Rahm could not hide his sense of relief after winning his first tournament at LIV Golf. He acknowledged that he has not been doing well in recent months on a personal level and that, in some way, he has fulfilled a request from Kepa, his eldest son.
Exciting finish with Hatton’s missed putt on the 18th… “First of all, we have to give a lot of credit to Tyrrell. He’s a fantastic player and you never want it to end like this. I almost wish we had gone to the tiebreak and win there”.
Moved after a few difficult months and Kepa’s request… “I’m moved because it hasn’t been the easiest year for our family. Kelley and I have had a pretty hard time, and she even more so, being on bed rest among many other things. She told me that our son Kepa had said that we should bring a trophy home in this stretch of golf. I started to believe that it was going to happen today. Maybe not in the last 20 minutes, but before that. Now I can look at them and tell him that I brought one home”.
The feeling of relief… “I’ve finally won one. You never want the feelings of not winning to last too long. Overcoming the slump is very good. It’s been a fantastic week and year and I feel relieved that it has finally happened”.
What happened on holes 17 and 18… “If there’s ever a tee shot where I want to have a little more anger, it might be that one on the 18th because I knew all I needed to do was keep it in line and it was going to get to the top and leave me a wedge. As for the 17th, it wasn’t easy to make two putts. If you go where I was it’s a bit of a funnel. The grain is from right to left, but I felt I had to go to the right, so I tried to play it to the centre left. Maybe I pushed it a bit, but it still broke to the right, something I didn’t expect with the hair to the left. It wasn’t essentially a bad putt. I feel like I’ve thrown worse putts throughout the tournament that have gone in. It’s a shame, but as I said, I came to the 18th hole wanting to hit it hard from the tee”.
What it means thinking about the Olympics… “A lot. I think walking the 18th or the last nine holes today would have been a little harder if I hadn’t won, but overcoming the hurdle and achieving it I think will give me a little more confidence if I get in a good position on Sunday. I’m really looking forward to sharing the week with David. It’s going to be fantastic and I hope one of the two of us takes the gold”.
The team victory… “It’s the second time we’ve swept. It’s very good. As I said at the beginning, I tried to set the pace for the team and make it clear that the goal is to win and I’m glad we’re achieving it. We have to be in a good position for the Dallas tournament and, hopefully, win the ranking there”.
