Jon Rahm (-1) has returned to the top 10 of the Majors at Royal Troon. Just one year later. Behind him is a discreet title defence at the Masters, a poor PGA Championship and a US Open to forget due to a foot injury. The Barika native is back to his natural place. It’s his thirteenth position among the top ten in 32 Majors played. More than a third of the time.
Rahm has made the top 10 in the Open thanks to a very good final round of 68 strokes, with four birdies, three of them in the first three holes, and a solitary bogey, after sending his tee shot on hole 11 to one of the hedges that so cunningly protect the right flank of the fairway.
Jon’s explosive start in the final round invited dreams. What if he stirs things up? What if he achieves the feat of a historic comeback? It was no chimera. By hole 7 he had placed himself with four under par for the day for a total of -2. The leaders had not started excessively well, so there was room for a feat.
However, the expectation of witnessing a historic Sunday soon faded. He missed a good birdie opportunity on the 8th and sent the 11th tee shot to the hedge. Crushing bogey. He was coming from so far back that he had no margin for error. It is true that given the end of the tournament, the wind dropped and the birdies emerged, he didn’t really have a chance to win, but he was also unable to finish a great round. He was left halfway. Fizzled out.
In reality, as has been happening all season, especially in the LIV Golf tournaments, Jon is still missing his team’s starting forward, the one who scores, the one who wins matches. Rahm manages to dominate the matches, plays well, generates chances, traps the rivals in their area, but when it comes to the truth he is lacking a goal. We could well say that his main striker broke his cruciate when he joined LIV and is still in recovery. In this Open he has given some clue that he is not far from returning to the team, but he cannot be counted on yet.
Rahm, meanwhile, waiting to be able to count on his star, keeps pounding, keeps trying, but he lacks something. Today he has thrilled in those first seven holes, something he had not done in the Majors since last year’s Open. It’s something, but it’s still not enough for his standards. The ones he imposes on himself.
He has returned to the top 10 in the Majors and that is good news. Now, waiting for the return of the starting centre forward to win tournaments again. There is still a season ahead, and the Olympic Games are just around the corner. It wouldn’t be a bad time to see the striker in action again.
