The Biscayan golfer prefers to keep the good times at Brookline and already has his mind set on the British
Jon Rahm went out to the Country Club on Sunday, only one shot away from the then co-leaders, Matt Fitzpatrick, who ultimately won the tournament, and Will Zalatoris, convinced that if he managed to play golf on the decisive day similar to that of the preceding days, he would have many options to become the second player in history to win two US Opens in a row. But this sport is unpredictable and cruel, to the point of erasing in an instant all the good that has accumulated in the preceding laps. “The truth is that it hurts because of how well I’ve played all week,” the world number two was honest with the clubhouse in statements to Spanish journalists stationed in Boston. And it is that the Biscayan had to row against the current to keep alive the hopes of finding a blow that would serve to change the scenario. “I fought to the end but things didn’t work out,” he admitted.
Golf is part of North American culture and being the current winner of the United States Open up to the 18th hole of the decisive day guaranteed him the encouragement of numerous fans and the respect of all during the four rounds of a course that he loved and loved. who would like to return. They knew that winning the third Major of the season twice in a row is a massive challenge that only seven pros in history have managed to complete. Doing it in fixed venues, as is the case in Augusta, is also an arduous task, but the possibility of it happening is greater. When the scenario is different every year, the company acquires another dimension. “Defending a Grandee is very difficult,” Barrika’s underlined before condensing what happened at Brookline in one sentence. «I have played 53 very good holes and 19 bad ones (the 18th on Saturday, with double bogey, and all the ones on Sunday)».
Transparent in his gestures on the field and very clear in his words, he is not one of those who give hot towels or look for excuses when things do not work. And from this perspective he prefers to stay with the good moments lived in Massachusetts, those that can make him grow in the remainder of the campaign to fly even higher. Probably from Thursday to Saturday the best Rahm of a campaign with ups and downs in which the results have not accompanied has been seen. “There have been some really good things, like the work on the greens, finding the path of the ball … Sometimes you make two putts and the dynamic can change completely,” he noted. Especially in a Major, which forces players to hole very committed putts without wanting to shore up their aspirations. He did it on Friday and Saturday. However, the panorama was very different on Sunday, with hostile holes that did not allow themselves to be dominated.
It is these green shoots that should stimulate him to face the British Open with maximum ambition, between July 14 and 17, which will close the ‘Grand season’. The tournament will be played in St Andrews, one of the cradles of golf, and celebrates no less than its 150th anniversary. It is marked in red on the Biscayan’s calendar because it represents everything that golf means to him. History, and also a legacy for future generations. “There is no better tournament to be able to win than a British Open at St Andrews,” he stressed. The exciting fourth day in Brookline parked for a day the split in this sport as a result of the irruption of the multimillion-dollar Saudi Super League. But this has only just begun. Rahm believes that he will talk about it again very soon and leaves a reflection: “Winning a Grand means being part of a very select group in the world of golf.”
