Jon Rahm had an extraordinary debut in the World Golf Championships. The golfer from Barrika finished in an astounding third place in the Mexico Championship after the epic duel on the last nine holes with Dustin Johnson.
Rahm played by the books at the Chapultepec Club in Mexico City. His team’s strategy worked flawlessly. He shot a 67 and started off leading the pack in the tight rankings in the first round, held on tightly on Friday with a 70, went on the attack again on Saturday with another 67 and on Sunday he made his way into the fight for the win with an exceptional partial score of four under par on the 11th and 15th holes. Sensational.
Rahm was the sole leader at one point after the birdie on the 15th. A solid and decisive attack and Dustin Johnson, Number 1 in the World, started to have his doubts. Mexico was blown away by the Spanish golfer. His eagle on the 11th hole and incredible putt for birdie from ten meters away on the 14th had the crowd going wild at Chapultepec. Jon was ready and willing to put the pressure on Johnson.
Only two 3-putts on the 16th and 17th holes were what left Rahm with a bitter-sweet sensation. He gave it all he had to take home the title, put everything on the line, didn’t hold back one bit, but in the end the tournaments are determined by those small details from a 3-putt to a flawlessly executed bunker shot like the ones Johnson made on the 15th and 18th holes.
No one in history has won the WGC on the first attempt and very few have been lucky enough to say that they were leading the tournament with just three holes to go against the Number 1 in the world. Jon continues to make his mark in the golf world at an extraordinary rate. And that’s considering that just one year ago he received the Ben Hogan prize for best amateur.
This Mexico Championship will go down in the books as an invaluable experience for Jon. The young 22-year-old golfer is like a sponge when it comes to assimilating practically a new lesson learned in each and every shot. He knows what it means to be prepared to win a World Championship with just three holes left to play. The lesson learned has already been recorded on his hard drive and it will definitely be useful for the next time he comes up against a similar situation, which may even be just two weeks from now when he plays in the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play, the next tournament on Jon’s calendar.
In the end, Rahm finished in third place in Mexico tied with Ross Fisher, one shot away from Tommy Fleetwood and two from Dustin Johnson. He’s breaking in his European Tour card with a bang as well. That it is indeed, as he has already secured the rights to play in next season, he’s now sixth in the FedEX Cup and has moved up to 25th place in the world rankings. Those were the spoils of war uncovered at Chapultepec.