Overcoming a four-stroke disadvantage against a great player like Tyrrell Hatton (-19) in the final round of any tournament requires three premises: the first, playing very well at golf, with a significant production of birdies; the second, avoiding making mistakes or reducing them to a minimum; and the third, that the Englishman does not have his best day. For Jon Rahm (-12), this Sunday only one of them was fulfilled, so his first victory in LIV Golf will have to wait.
The one from Barrika, confirming that the infection between two toes of a foot that prevented him from playing the US Open at Pinehurst is starting to be history, began the last day of competition in the Saudi tour tournament in Nashville doing what he should: three birdies in his first four holes to put pressure on the leader. However, at the par four of hole 6, a double mistake arrived that, despite his constant attempts, slowed him down enough to not be able to rejoin the fight for victory.
Huge bounce back for @JonRahmOfficial 👌
He’s moved back to 11-under just 3 back 👀#LIVGolf @LegionXIIIgc pic.twitter.com/xtrj4m8IYV
— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) June 23, 2024
From the tee he sent a ball to the lake, complaining because the television drone had bothered him. And after dropping, he again encountered the water obstacle. A double bogey that practically took him back to the starting square. The Spaniard reacted wonderfully with a birdie at the par five of 7, but another bogey at 9 already turned the comeback into a utopia. A birdie at 11, a bogey at 12 and two more birdies, at 14 and 15, at least allowed him to rescue a tied third place, which could have been better with a good birdie option wasted on his last flag.
Above, his teammate, Hatton, gave absolutely no one a chance. He didn’t mind making a couple of bogeys, at the par three of 5 and at the par four of 12, because his tee to green game, as throughout the week, was simply extraordinary. He was able to create countless birdie options and hit eight of them to debut as a winner in LIV Golf and lift a trophy again more than three years later (his last victory was the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship of 2021). “I’m very proud and happy for Tyrrell. He’s a very competitive player, he’s a great friend, he’s won on the DP World Tour, on the PGA Tour and now on LIV Golf, something very meritorious,” Jon said about the Englishman.
Is anyone going to catch @TyrrellHatton? 👀
He leads by 5 with 4 holes to play 📈#LIVGolf @LegionXIIIgc pic.twitter.com/sf4273Cc2L
— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) June 23, 2024
Four million dollars for the good Tyrrell, a real ‘mortar’ with which to forget any hint of regret about his signing for the Saudi tour, if he had it, which does not seem to be the case, and an additional prize of another three ‘kilos’ for his team, the Legion XIII (-40) captained by Jon, which they both share with Caleb Surratt and Kieran Vincent, winners of the team competition with a five-stroke advantage over the Crushers (-35) and six over the Torque (-34).
John Catlin (-11), who started as another of Hatton‘s great rivals in the final round, deflated. Sam Horsfield (-13), who closed the tournament with a notable 65, reached second place alone. While tied with Rahm in the third position were Bryson DeChambeau (-12), surviving almost without fuel after his victory in the major of the USGA and closing his round with a great birdie putt after recovering from the sand, as seven days ago, Joaquín Niemann (-12), the best of Sunday with 62 strokes (ten birdies and one bogey) and Lee Westwood (-12).
The other three Spaniards present in Nashville moved far from the fight. Eugenio López Chacarra (-6) and Sergio García (6) tied with several more players in the 18th position of the classification. While David Puig (+4), with a terrible series of double bogey, triple bogey and bogey between hole 7 and 9, finished penultimate just seven days after his notable participation in the US Open where he scored the necessary points to seal his place in the Paris Games. The next date of LIV Golf, from July 12 to 14 in Valderrama.
