The image will remain forever in the corollary of Spanish sport. Just like that putt by Seve at St. Andrews in 1984 to win the second of his three Brits. Or all the green jackets of the genius, Olazbal and Sergio. Jon Rahm, out of himself, throwing his fist in the air after a hit of considerable difficulty, downhill, with the ball sliding through the treacherous poa grass, finished off the first US Open for Spain. The big one forbidden to foreigners for decades. The beginning of an adventure that, as announced, does not stop being surprising, especially because of its execution.
Jon went to win at Torrey Pines, the field where he won his first professional tournament. with a fabulous eagle, but inferior to what happened on Sunday the 20th, the day that Jon turns exactly five years in the category. The dimension is gigantic because it was preceded by another fabulous birdie putt on the 17th hole and a final score of 67 strokes, which reflected the level of play exhibited by the 26-year-old Barrika golfer.
While the denouement was taking place, He took his son Kepa in his arms as if he were training to raise the glass that he made minutes later and passed through a human corridor that greeted the champion, although he was not yet. It was Father’s Day in the United States and there were three generations of Rahm – his father Edorta has been with him for three weeks – to attend a historic moment in their lives.
A fabulous start
For the first time in the 20 majors he has played, Jon started the final day birdie-birdie. It was a concatenation of superb blows, supported, above all, by the starting shots. I took streets that in the US Open is a mandatory exercise and the rest of the game was aligned. Also the putt, a stick that until the Memorial, when it was removed by Covid 19, had created doubts since he changed squire at the beginning of the year.
With all the golfers already in action, Rahm had more than half the way. He was second to Oosthuizen, one hit. There was Sunday.
All US Open venues are a Vietnam by definition. Every mistake is paid. What DeChambeau achieved between Saturday and Sunday, playing 28 holes without bogeys, is part of the great episodes in the history of this edition. Rahm paid for it first time. He went to the bunker on hole 4 and ended up sealing a bogey because the ball spun out on the last lap.
Bryson y Koepka
The contest was fabulous. After the first hour or so of play of the Spanish, there were ten players in one shot, five big winners. It was a steak with pepper. At the heart of it were DeChambeau and Koepka, the golfers whose extra-sporting children’s pike has heated up golf. Shares fired. The final nine holes had not yet reached the climax.
The scientific golfer, with a wonderful 9 iron on par 3 of hole 8 a finger from hole in one, he gave the first lease and they reached 5 under par. The first session eliminated the weakest, Wolff, Henley, and Casey. Rahm took advantage of the first par 5 (hole 9) to play a wedge on the slope and get the third birdie of the day and follow a shot.
Oosthuizen, the golfer who has a runner-up Grand Slam, It triggered the next pull and raised the bar to six under par, the number DeChambeau had won last year, a winning score at 66 percent of the US Open games played in the century. It was felt that victory could be there.
In that curve Morikawa burst (double bogey in the fariseo par 5 of hole 13), Hughes, whose ball stayed in the glass of a eucalyptus of the 11, McIlroy -bogey and double bogey- and Koepka, who ran out of holes. Also on the 13th he swallowed DeChambeau. He started it badly by slipping on the tee shot and ended it worse: a double bogey.
Jon Rahm takes the ball out of the bunker
The US Open was already a battle between Oosthuizen and Jon, separated by a coup. Barrika’s one shot big putts that cleared the holes of 13, 14 and hit the wall of 15. On 17, downhill, in a very fast putt he entered the center and reached for the first time the leadership of the tournament. Just in time.
The wonder of the 18th hole left Oosthuizen alone against the. Four holes behind, he needed a birdie. And not fail. The adrenaline squirted out the South African. He threw it into the ravine on the 17th hole and, despite a great recovery shot, missed the putt. When the first shot of the 18th hole missed the rough, Jon went to get ready. “When a playoff is approaching you always have to put yourself in the worst,” he always remembers. This time it was impossible. Oosthuizen tried an eagle from the street, but he didn’t look out. Jon rose to the altars.
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