Jon Rahm finished in 34th place in the Career Builder Challenge, PGA Tour tournament. First tournament of the year and good vibes. A bit of everything happened. Some great moments, sequences of powerful birdies and a few sporadic errors here and there which kept him from ending up higher in the rankings, but from which learned for the future.
The tournament was played in the Pro-Am format on three different courses in California: TPC Stadium Course, Nicklaus Tournament Course and La Quinta Golf. The golfer from Barrika shot a 71 (GC), 66 (NC), 70 (SC) and 72 (SC).
The birdies he made throughout the week were spectacular. Rahm will walk away from the La Quinta complex with twenty birdies, with an outstanding average of five per round. He’ll leave the errors on the course. Throughout the four days, he made two double bogeys and six bogeys, on many occasions due to the urge to move up quickly in the rankings.
His best day was on the Nicklaus Course. Round played by the books. He shot a 66 with six birdies and no bogeys. Immaculate. In the last round he went all in, to make his way to the top, in a quest for the top ten, but he got off to a bad start. On the 5th hole he was at +4 due to two bogeys and a double bogey. However, far from giving up, Jon buckled down and landed a magnificent partial score of -4 on the next thirteen holes for the comeback to finish at par after three hours of play, almost thirty spots. A fight well worth it in the end.
As far as his game, the best aspect was the irons. Rahm caught many regulation greens. He was the fifteenth best of the tournament. Good stats. There were ups and downs off the tee.
The overall outcome is good, keeping in mind that it was the first tournament of the year. The key is to compete on a consistent basis. Jon will play next in the Farmers Insurance Open on the Torrey Pines course in San Diego.