Jon Rahm did not win the Spanish Open for the third year in a row, despite being number 1 in the world. Rafa Cabrera Bello was his successor in the record, despite the fact that the canary himself acknowledged that he arrived at the Country Club “at my worst moment in the last decade”. The outcome of the Madrid event underscores the difficulty of winning at golf, a sport in which millimeters decide. “If anyone thought that by being number 1 in the world they would win by ten difference, they have no idea “he said into the Movistar Golf microphones. Of course, the barrikoztarra was not satisfied with his performance, especially at the weekend, where his game did not flow as expected and ruined the expectations he had generated with his eight under par on the first day and four under par of a second. But his clubs got out of balance in the final two days and the victory eluded him.
At least, he could see that the title was going to be disputed by two good friends, Rafa Cabrera and Adri Arnaus, who fought a beautiful duel in the second half of the round that had to be resolved in the play-off. Before, in 18 the canary had come out of a serious trouble while the Catalan missed a putt that could give him victory. Repeating in that hole, Cabrera did not fail and added his first victory after four years of drought and the first after seven attempts that he achieved after leaving as leader on the last day.
The canary opened the tournament with his initial double bogey, but Jon Rahm could not sneak in because he also signed a bogey on hole 2. Then, he made a birdie on hole 4, but failed to hook the streak that would have gotten him with clear options and neither He could not even hope to enter the Top 10 because too many players raised his level in the last day. Another bogey-birdie sequence on 7 and 8 kept the barrikoztarra stopped for a few holes until he was able to drop two shots on 14, his best flag of the week, and on 16. There was still a chance of sneaking into the top ten , but it was not possible after a lap in which the irons did not provide Rahm with clear birdie opportunities and the putt could not rescue them either. “I played well, but I did not get one. If I got to kick decent I would not have won, but I would have been higher”, he exposed.
In this way, he finished in seventeenth place, thirteen under par. Barrika’s finished tied with Adrián Otaegui from San Sebastian, who was able to gain many positions over the weekend, and Mike Lorenzo-Vera from Lapurta. In this way, Jon Rahm remains third in the Race to Dubai, with the Americans Collin Morikawa and Billy Horschel ahead. This week he will have the opportunity to close the gap at the Andalucía Masters in Valderrama, an emblematic course that he likes, but in which he has not had good results so far. “You can’t hide there. Luckily, golf always gives you another chance,” he said.
The wear and tear of the whole year and the pressure that has been loaded all week has been able to weigh her down, although the Biscayan did everything on his part to change his luck. Even after finishing his round on Saturday and attending to his commitments off the field, he returned to the practice area to work his swing and seek to correct his game from the tee. It didn’t go well this week, but despite everything, Jon Rahm renewed his commitment to the tournament: “My duty is to follow Seve’s legacy and try to keep golf growing a little bit more. I will keep coming back and hopefully there will be more and more following of this sport in Spain “.
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