The start of 2023 remains blissful for Jon Rahm, golfer who had dismissed 2022 with two victories in the last four tournaments and who proclaims himself, although the change in the world ranking system does not fairly endorse him, the best player in the world in recent months. He now has four victories in the last six and they only consider it the third. And, like the greatest hits, number 1 in the USA. At the FedEx Cup.
At the American Express, in California, with a version B of his game, he won again as in 2018. With a regularity that only Tiger has shown in this century, Rahm repeated his appearance in the fight for the title. His sufficiency, his strategy and hands with sublime sensitivity in the short game were enough to win with the requirement of a very high score. In the last 8 rounds he has accumulated 54 strokes under par: 27 in Hawaii and as many in California.
Rahm wanted to put order from the beginning. He loosened two fabulous wedges, especially the one on the 2nd hole, and scored two birdies. With that outburst it seemed that he was going to rule La Quinta with an iron fist, but this time he found a lot of response.
The first on Davis Thompson, a 23-year-old rookie who hits hard and that he overcame a ball into the water in the lake on the long hole 5. The boy has wood to hold out next to the Basque for a whole last round. He peeled it to the end.
Later, the animators of Sunday were also added.: Xander Schauffele and Chris Kirk. The first, Olympic champion, catapulted his return (62 strokes) with an albatross on the aforementioned par 5; the second (64) solved the first nine holes at -7, with seven birdies. The fact that he was not able to make a birdie in the last third of the game kept him from winning.
Tie with five holes to go
Without a brilliant putt on the front nine, Rahm took a breather at 9, moments after seeing that Thompson had reached 25 under par and equalized him for a couple of minutes. The birdie broke the tie and he would still make a fourth, like almost everyone on the friendly 11th hole (the first par 5 he birdied all day), but on the 13th he bogeyed from three feet and Thompson gave chase.
The moment of the outcome, weighed the experience. Rahm, who with this victory now has 9 victories on the PGA Tour, the same as Severiano Ballesteros, two less than Sergio García, took advantage of the first moment he had. Thompson, who started earlier, sent it into a bunker on the 16th hole, the last par 5, and lost the birdie option. Barrika’s man did much better at the start, but he missed a three-meter downhill putt. It was the trick and Jon, the most determined golfer of these times, holed it out. Unlike the other three that had touched the edge and been spat out by the hole, the ball dribbled around the ring and disappeared.
The final two holes, a match play as everyone else had finished, Jon showed solidity. Thompson kicked at 17, a par 3, from 12 meters with the flag up for birdie and the ball hit the post. Perhaps without her I could have entered. The emotion reached the 18th hole. Of the seven times he had reached the last day as a leader on the PGA Tour, he had only been able to finish off two: Mexico 2022 and Zurich 2019 in pairs with Ryan Palmer. He thickened the stats and the showcase of him. In six seasons she already has 18 tournaments around the world.
