Jon Rahm finished the PGA Championship with an accumulated total of 287 shots, one under par.
Four rounds of 72, 75, 72 and 68 shots, for eight place on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, South Carolina course that took the spotlight in the second Major of the season, on which Phil Mickelson was crowned champion. Friend and mentor to Jon, the incredible golfer from San Diego conquered the sixth Major of his career, and the second PGA, and made history in golf by becoming the first golfer over 50 to win a Major.
Rahm had a fantastic comeback on Sunday. His card with a total of 68 shots, after a sudden second wind at Kiawah, West Beach, allowed him to climb up thirty positions in the rankings, and to finish in the top 10, an astonishing accomplishment, even more so considering it’s his third top 10 in a row in a Major. And to what extent is this statistic relevant? It’s not bad at all when taking into consideration that no one else has done it. A total of 29 different golfers made a top 10 in the last three Majors, the Masters at Augusta in 2020, the Masters at Augusta in 2021 and the PGA Championship 2021. Of those 29 golfers, only Jon was able to pull it off. In the Masters this past November, he finished in seventh place, in the Masters in April, he finished in fifth place, and now he’s finished in eighth place.
Cameron Smith, Patrick Reed, Corey Conners, Tony Finau, Brooks Koepka, Justin Rose and Will Zalatoris made two top 10s in this sequence. And Webb Simpson, CT Pan, Rory McIIlroy, Dylan Frittelli, Justin Thomas Dustin Johnson, Sungaje Im, Hideki Matsuyama, Xander Schauffele, Marc Leishman, Scottie Scheffler, Rickie Fowler, Kevin Streelman, Phil Mickelson, Louis Oosthuizen, Shane Lowry, Padraig Harrington, Harry Higgs, Paul Casey, Abraham Ancer and Collin Morikawa made one top 10. These are the 29 golfers who pertain to this exclusive top 10 in the Majors club in the past seven months. Jon is at the top of the list, above of all of them.
Rahm had an inconsistent week. He had his moments from tee to green, especially on Saturday and Sunday, but he was also inconsistent with the putter. A bad third round on the greens kept him from finishing with much better results, which in turn, would have allowed him to have better positioning going into Sunday. He had up to eight options for birdie from less than three meters, and he only made two. On Sunday, on the other hand, he was much more accurate with that same club, he made great putts, which lead him to hand in one of best cards of the day.
Jon left the PGA Championship with good vibes. He will rest this week, and will play next week in the Memorial Tournament, where he’ll be defending the title.