The June 20, 2021 It was the most important day in the sporting career of the new star of Spanish sports, the Biscayan golfer Jon Rahm, who became the legend by winning the Opened from U.S and achieve his first ‘major’ until the end of the year as number one in the world.
That day, Jon Rahm, 26 (he turned 27 on November 10), joined his name to that of the other winners of major national golf tournaments: Seve Ballesteros (5), Chema Olazábal (2) and Sergio García (1). It was the eighth major in Spanish golf and the first at the US Open.
The legendary Seve won two editions of the British Open (1979, 1984 and 1988) and two of the Masters (1980 and 1983). Olazábal wore the Augusta National tournament green jacket twice (1994 and 199). And Sergio García became a teacher in 2017. But no Spaniard had managed the US Open.
Rahm had been third at the 2019 US Open and fourth at the Masters and the 2018 PGA Championship.. And in his nineteenth big, came the first big title. Y the first by a Spaniard at the US Open.
Made them in the Father’s Day in America, when she received the trophy after holding her son Kepa, then three months old (he was born on April 5), after a performance full of passion and without errors that surpassed all his rivals, the first of them the South African Louis Oosthuizen, who finished second at the Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, California.
Jon Rahm made a birdie putt over twenty feet on the 17th hole that allowed him to catch up with Oosthuizen. And he buried another left-to-right birdie putt from less than five meters on the final hole for a 67 (-4) and a one-stroke win. He finished 278 total hits (-6) and four rounds of 69, 70, 72 and 67 to add his first major title.
Number 1
After winning the US Open, Rahm regained the position of world number one, although he gave it up briefly after the next tournament he played, the Scottish Open. After finishing third tied in the British Open, Rahm returned to ascend to the throne and did not leave it for the rest of the year.
Formed at the University of Arizona, the Barrika player (Vizcaya) was already warning little by little that his emergence in a big one was a matter of time. Before his feat, Rahm had amassed twelve titles as a professional: six on the PGA Tour and another six on the European Tour.
In 2021 Jon Rahm played a total of 21 tournaments with a balance of 13 top-10s and only three missed cuts.
In his great year he also experienced particularly bitter moments, such as when he had to leave The Memorial tournament, in which he was defending the title, for having tested positive for covid-19 and when he led at the end of the third round with six strokes of advantage.
The covid-19 also deprived him of playing his first Olympic Games. He was unable to travel to Tokyo because he tested positive again. He was replaced in the Spanish team by Jorge Campillo, who played the Olympic tournament alongside Adri Arnaus.
Or when he was eliminated at the Estrella Damm Andalucía Masters by failing to make the cut on the second day. “It is the first time that I do not want to see a golf club. I need a rest,” the Biscayan went on to say.
Nor does he have good memories of his second experience in the Ryder Cup, in which he was the player who contributed the most points (3.5) to the European team, defeated by the United States on the Whistling Straits route in Haven, Wisconsin, by a resounding score: 19-9.
Moments of bitterness that do not overshadow a year that he will never forget because it was his consecration, such as those seen as a legend of world golf and Spanish sport. EFE
