Spaniard Jon Rahm broke his nerves and a two-stroke penalty to win the Memorial Tournament on Sunday and replace Rory McIlroy at the top of the world rankings.
Rahm started the final round in a smoky and gusty Muirfield Village Golf Club with a four-shot lead and padded the eight-hole nine-hole game to play, but the late drama saw his lead drop to three before the 25-year-old had closed his fourth PGA Tour Victory.
Rahm, who joins childhood hero Seve Ballesteros as the only Spaniards to hold the top spot, celebrated with a huge punch in faded light and near silence with onlookers still banished due to Covid-19 restrictions .
“I don’t know how to describe it,” said Rahm. “It has been a goal since I was 13, 14 years old.
“I remember hearing a story on the radio from my swing coach in Spain, Eduardo Celles. We were driving somewhere and he asked me what my goals were, my ambitions and this and that, and I remember telling him that I will be the best player in the world. “
Rahm’s last three-over 75 round saw him finish on nine-under 279, three shots ahead of Ryan Palmer (74), with Matthew Fitzpatrick (68) in third place out of 283, and Matt Wallace (72) and the Australian Jason Day (73) one step further back.
Rahm’s round began to unfold with a bogey at 10 followed by a double bogey at 11, while Palmer rolled into a birdie at 12, and when he lost a three-foot routine to take the bogey at 14th, the command once of the Spanish was reduced to three.
But the Spaniard, who hit hard, stabilized the ship with a flash of brilliance at the 16th, jumping from 30 feet to restore a four-stroke cushion with two to play.
There was a later drama, however, when Rahm was subsequently dealt a two-stroke penalty when his ball moved while tackling the shot at 16.
Rahm was unaware of that penalty and, after Palmer got the 17th round, he went to the 18th tee without being told that his lead was three strokes, not five.
Rahm’s throw at 16 for birdies was later changed to a bogey after he was given a two-stroke penalty because the ball moved. Photo: Andy Lyons / Getty Images
“As unfortunate as this happens, it was an exceptional, serious shot,” said Rahm. “What it shows is that you never know what will happen.
“So I’m happy to have grinded those last two ups and downs because I had lost them both, in addition to the penalty shot, maybe Ryan ends up strong, I’d be in a playoff and I’m glad I finished it well.
“But it moved, so I’ll accept the penalty and it won’t change the tournament result yet.”
Jon Rahm suffered a two-stroke penalty for a violation of Rule 9.4 after a ball at rest moved.
His score at 16th par-3 has changed from 2 to 4. pic.twitter.com/HWbIN2woTr
– PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) 20 July 2020
McIlroy, who lost his number one ranking in the world to Rahm, signed up for a final round of 78 to finish four for the tournament after his solid start was canceled by a triple bogey eight in fifth Par 5. The Tiger Woods’ final 76 round saw him finish at six on the dot and tied for the 30th.
Final round scores and totals collected in the USPGA Tour the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, Muirfield Golf Club, Dublin, Ohio, United States of America (USA, unless otherwise indicated, par 72):
279 Jon Rahm (Spa) 69 67 68 75
282 Ryan Palmer 67 68 73 74
283 Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 75 66 74 68
284 Jason Day (Aus) 73 66 72 73, Matt Wallace (Eng) 72 70 70 72
285 Henrik Norlander (Swe) 74 66 71 74, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 74 66 73 72
286 Tony Finau 66 69 73 78
287 Kevin Na 74 69 71 73
288 Luke List 70 68 79 71, Xinjun Zhang (Chn) 72 73 70 73, Patrick Reed 71 76 70 71
289 Brendan Steele 68 75 71 75, Xander Schauffele 78 69 72 70, Billy Horschel 76 71 70 72, Jordan Spieth 70 70 74 75, Harris English 70 73 74 72
290 Steve Stricker 73 67 77 73, Justin Thomas 74 67 75 74, Patrick Rodgers 70 72 71 77, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 73 73 70 74
291 Matthew Wolff 77 68 70 76, Gary Woodland 68 70 76 77, Chez Reavie 71 67 74 79, Scottie Scheffler 71 73 70 77, Brendon Todd 75 72 68 76, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 72 69 78 72, Keith Mitchell 74 71 73 73, Erik Van Rooyen (Rsa) 76 69 73 73, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 73 68 74 76, Corey Conners (Can) 73 74 72 72
292 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 70 72 72 78, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 72 73 73 74, Danny Willett (Eng) 74 66 70 82, Patrick Cantlay 70 70 73 79, Bubba Watson 78 68 70 76, Matt Kuchar 76 67 76 73
293 Lucas Glover 69 72 74 78, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 72 72 79 70
294 Tiger Woods 71 76 71 76, Marc Leishman (Aus) 72 75 71 76, Scott Harrington 74 69 76 75, Ryan Moore 70 75 75 74
295 Bud Cauley 75 71 73 76, Jason Dufner 72 73 73 77, Cheng-Tsung Pan (Tai) 72 74 75 74, Lanto Griffin 72 73 76 74
296 Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 74 72 70 80, Jim Furyk 72 68 79 77, Viktor Hovland (Nor) 74 66 77 79, Collin Morikawa 76 70 73 77, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 75 70 72 79, Charles Howell III 69 77 77 73 77
297 Phil Mickelson 72 74 73 78, Adam Hadwin (Can) 76 70 70 81, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 72 73 73 79, Kevin Streelman 75 71 78 73
298 Abraham Ancer (Mex) 72 75 72 79, Denny McCarthy 75 71 76 76, Zach Johnson 76 70 75 77
299 Sepp Straka (Aut) 73 72 79 75
300 Brooks Koepka 72 75 73 80, Vijay Singh (Fij) 71 74 78 77, Jimmy Walker 70 72 81 77, Stewart Cink 73 74 74 79, Scott Piercy 72 73 77 78, Bol Hoag 75 67 79 79
301 Keegan Bradley 73 73 77 78, Cameron Smith (Aus) 74 72 76 79, Tyler Duncan 75 71 71 84, William McGirt 76 69 73 83
302 Mark Hubbard 70 76 76 80
304 Sung Kang (Kor) 74 72 78 80
306 Joel Dahmen 75 72 78 81
