At this point in his career, Jon Rahm has no use for finishing second. The World No. 1 shot a final-round 67 Sunday at the Mexico Open in his title defence to end the week at 21-under total, three shots behind winner Tony Finau.

With the performance, however, Rahm jumped to the top of one more list. He’s already at the top of the World Ranking. He leads the FedEx Cup standings. He has the most wins on the season, with four, including the Masters earlier this month.

By earning $839,300 at the Mexico Open, Rahm has now earned $14,462,840 on the season, which breaks the PGA Tour record. Before May.

Scottie Scheffler set the tour record last year with $14,046,910 in earnings during his four-win season that ended with his first major championship and PGA Tour Player of the Year honours.

Coincidentally, Scheffler is third on the career list for season earnings with the $12,508,495 that he’s already earned this year by winning twice, including the $4.5 million that he took home at the Players Championship in March. He’s just less than $2 million behind Rahm this year, but with three major championships, the playoffs and three other designated events left in the four months that remain in this season, the money race is far from over.

RELATED: Tony Finau wins in Mexico, denies Rahm’s repeat

Rounding out the career list: Jordan Spieth $12,030,465 in 2015, Vijay Singh $10,905,166 in 2004, Tiger Woods $10,867,052 in 2007, Woods $10,628,024 in 2005 and Woods $10,545,465 in 2009.

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With a final-round five-under 66, Finau beat Rahm, the World No. 1 and reigning Masters champion, by three strokes to record his sixth career PGA Tour victory and join Rahm, Max Homa and Scottie Scheffler as multiple winners during the 2022-23 tour season. Finau, who finished with a record 24-under 260 total, has won four times in his last 18 starts spanning 280 days. He has five wins in his last 41 starts after needing 188 starts to register his first victory.

Before Finau tapped in for par on the par-5 home hole, Rahm put his arm around his American friend and offered congratulations.

“It feels amazing,” said Finau, 33, who was the second-highest ranked player in the field behind Rahm at No. 16 in the world and moved to 11th. “Rahmbo is the best … he’s on top of the world right now, and I knew I was going to have my hands full with him all the way to the end. … I was really put to the test and came out on top, which feels great.”

Finau, who has won by an average of four shots in his last four victories, converted for the third time in eight tries when holding the 54-hole lead by sinking an 11-footer for birdie on the first hole and going on to complete a bogey-free final round to collect $1.386 million. He led the field in strokes gained/tee-to-green with a whopping 14.779 strokes and also led in total birdies with 27.

“I played great golf all week,” said Finau after posting his career-low aggregate score. “That’s something that I wanted to do. Every day I was striking the golf ball really nicely, but the biggest thing is I was able to convert the birdie putts that I really needed to and also some of the par saves that were momentum swingers for me. Very happy just with the four rounds I was able to put together.”

Seeking his seventh worldwide win and fifth on the PGA Tour since his one-stroke victory a year ago at Vidanta Vallarta Golf Course, Rahm couldn’t sustain the momentum from a third-round 61 that catapulted him into contention. The Spaniard birdied the last for a 67 and 263 total. He pocketed $839,300, which moved him past Scheffler for the record for official earnings in a single season at $14,462,840. And it’s only May.

“I knew I needed a low one again today, somewhere 23, 24, 25 under was, maybe if I had a target in mind, that was it,” Rahm said. “It was a day where I didn’t do much wrong, but I didn’t do much right, either. Still proud to come back after the year that has been and put on a show and have a good defence of the title.”

En route to his sixth PGA Tour victory, Tony Finau shot the lowest 72-hole aggregate score of his career (260). Hector Vivas

Rahm was disappointed but found a silver lining for the week—and it wasn’t just setting the new single-season earnings record. “I mean, it’s a great reminder that what you’ve done means absolutely nothing, you still have to go out there and do it,” he said. “It’s also good so you don’t think too much of yourself, right? Like obviously I wanted to win, but it’s a reminder that everybody out here is a great player, and Tony came out with a two-shot lead and played fantastic golf.”

Brandon Wu, who briefly tied Finau for the lead Sunday, closed with 68—265. Wu caught Finau at 21 under when he went eagle-birdie at No. 6 and No. 7, respectively, to cap a five-under burst in his first seven holes. However, Finau birdied the short seventh from five feet while Wu bogeyed the eighth from the right greenside bunker to re-establish Finau’s two-stroke lead by which he began the final round.

Tied for second with Finau and Kurt Kitayama last year, Wu fell farther behind when he drove into the water at the par-4 10th and suffered a double bogey, leaving Rahm as the closest pursuer three shots back. Rahm never got closer, and neither did anyone else thanks to timely birdies and a few key par saves, including an 18-footer from the fringe at the eighth that kept Finau in control.

“Yeah, no doubt, it was the par putt on No. 8,” Finau said of perhaps the most important shot of the day. “I hit in the left bunker with my second shot, which is not too crazy of a bunker to get out of, and I just chunked the bunker shot and it barely got out. I had about 20, 22 feet for par off the fringe, and it was just huge for my momentum at that time.”

Akshay Bhatia, who has special temporary membership on tour, began the day tied for second with Rahm two behind Finau, but only managed 70 to end up fourth at 266.

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It wasn’t the easiest of days for Jon Rahm, the favourite at the Mexico Open at Vidanta, but Rahm rebounded from some early scratchy play and finished with four birdies in his last 10 holes that had him in a better mood by the end — and a little forgetful as witnessed by this exchange with a reporter:

Q: Jon, how would you assess that round today? Happy to be in with a 4-under 67?
Rahm: Yeah, it was good. A 67?
Q: I think it’s par 71, isn’t it?
Rahm: Par 71? No, it’s a par 72.
Q: Sixty-eight?
Rahm: Come on …

We originally assumed Rahm was yanking the reporter’s chain and being playful, but on Golf Channel with Hailey Hunter he said at the end, “68 is a great way to start.” In other words, Rahm is so on fire he doesn’t even know what he shot. Or maybe that Masters hangover has finally kicked in.

Front nine: E
Back nine: -4@JonRahmPGA is just two shots off the lead @MexicoOpenGolf ? pic.twitter.com/t9IGDLxquF

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 27, 2023

Perhaps so but he also knew his score could have been better. “Those first 13 holes we had virtually no wind, about as easy conditions as it can get,” said the Masters champion. “I wish I would have taken advantage of it more. I did make some good swings early on, I just couldn’t quite get the number and judge some lies off the fairway, but that’s just things that happen. I’m happy I played as good as I did on the back nine and capped it off with the putt on the last hole.”

That putt was a 26-footer on the par-3 ninth as Rahm started on the back nine and at four under par, certainly not out of it after 18 holes. That said, for those betting on Rahm at +300 odds (suckers!) they’re clearly more on edge after the opening round than the man they wagered on. Especially if he’s going to keep tacking strokes onto his score.

Smoking hot Smotherman

There was little to suggest Austin Smotherman would smoke the Vidanta Vallarta course to the tune of an opening-round (and course-record-tying) 63 and the first-round lead at the Mexico Open. After all, Smotherman’s PGA Tour CV to date doesn’t include a top-10 finish in a stroke-play event (he did finish eighth at the 2022 Barracuda in the stableford format) and his best finish this season in 17 starts is a T-23 in Bermuda.

Being back in Mexico, however, brought good vibes for Smotherman, who won the 2018 Mexico Open when it was a PGA Tour Latinoamerica event with rounds of 66, 65, 66 and 65 for a four-shot win.

Asked about that after his round, Smotherman spoke freely about that moment. “I still get a little bit of some goosebumps thinking about it, for sure,” he said. “Just the reception, winning an event like that, the Mexico Open, which has such a deep history. There are names on that trophy that are in the Hall of Fame and what it kind of means down here, a national open anywhere is very special.”

Finishing in style ?@Austin_Smosmo chips in at the last to gain the solo lead in the clubhouse @MexicoOpenGolf. pic.twitter.com/lnurAqjmBa

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 27, 2023

Special could describe Smotherman’s round, which started on the back nine and included a three-birdie string on Nos. 3 to 5 and a four-bagger to finish his round, punctuated by a hole out from off the green at the par-3 ninth. His approach game was his primary weapon as he hit 15 of 18 greens and five of his birdies were the result of approaches that finished inside 10 feet, including the one that started it all at the par-4 third where he knocked a pitching wedge off the dirt from 138 yards to within a foot.

Of course, Smotherman’s hot start wasn’t just due to a return to the scene of previous glory. Despite missing the cut with partner Harry Higgs last week at the Zurich Classic, Smotherman felt his game starting to come around.

“We ended up missing the cut by two, but I mean we were feeding off each other, hitting good shots,” he said. “And then being back home in Dallas for two days, Saturday, Sunday got some work in with Cameron [McCormick]. Played a fun pro-am event on Monday at Preston Trail and came down here Monday night.”

If he keeps it up for three more rounds the trip back home could be pretty special, too

Pereda makes Mexico proud

If you hail from Mexico, teeing it up in the Mexico Open is special. When it’s your first time playing in a PGA Tour event, it might even prove overwhelming. Fortunately for Raul Pereda, he maintained the poise of a seasoned pro during an opening-round 65 that had the locals smiling as one of their own sat on the first page of the leader board.

“It feels amazing to see a lot of people just walking around the course and just cheering for me,” said Pereda, who was born in Mexico City. “It just feels great. More than that, having my parents, my family around here and just playing on home soil … it just means a lot to play in Mexico.”

It probably means a lot to the 26-year-old just to be playing, period. Pereda was hospitalized for four days over New Year’s in 2020 for myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart. Certainly experiencing something like that can provide perspective, which might help explain his cool demeanour in his tour debut.

His putter, however, was hot. Known to use one ball marker for long putts and another on short ones, Pereda, who is 810th on the OWGR, might want to haul out the long-putt marker more often. He made nearly 120 feet of putts during the opening 18, including a 44-foot bomb on the par 4 eighth, his second birdie in a three-birdie string.

As for how the 5ft 9ins, 143lb tour novice plans to approach the ensuing rounds, he sounded very much like a veteran who was coached by Crash Davis in “Bull Durham” on his clichés.

“Just keep it very simple,” he said. “I don’t think I need to get ahead of myself. It’s just like any other sanctioned tour event for me. It’s 18 holes a day and just 18 chances for birdie and just commit to every shot.”

It wasn’t quite “I just want to give it my best shot and, Good Lord willing, things will work out” but not bad for a first try — on the course and with the media.

The post Mexico Open takeaways: Jon Rahm is so hot he can’t remember what he shot, Austin Smotherman grabs the lead and Raul Pereda makes his home country proud appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Read on for the details, but the crux of the story on Sunday can be neatly encapsulated by the fact that the occasionally volatile Spaniard — OK, it can be more than occasionally — didn’t have his Mariano Rivera-level stuff in trying to close out his seventh career PGA Tour title, but he remained composed and departed Vallarta, Mexico, unscathed. A final-round two-under 69 proved just enough for a one-stroke victory.

“I’ve won in a few styles already, but this was a pretty stressful weekend all the way to the end,” Rahm, 27, said after posting 17-under 267 and winning for the first time since the US Open last June. “I stayed positive. I let my frustrations out a few times out there, but I always stay positive and I always stay hopeful.

“It wasn’t my best putting weekend. It was great the first two days, but after that it wasn’t great. But I stayed aggressive. … I was confident in what I was doing, and I had faith in every part of my game. And it showed.”

Stay positive. Stay aggressive. Have faith. Check, check and check. Oh, and we’re positive that a check for $1.314 million will be positively received by the soon-to-be father of two.

During the final round on a sunny and breezy afternoon, eagles and birdies were being found all over the Greg Norman-designed Vidanta Vallarta Golf Course, but Rahm traipsed around looking like the kid who got shut out at an Easter egg hunt.

Three players — Aaron Wise, Martin Trainer and David Lipsky — shot closing 64s. Tony Finau, without a top-10 since August when he won The Northern Trust, and rookie Brandon Wu did one better, each posting bogey-free 63s, a course record. They tied for second with another rookie Kurt Kitayama, who closed with a 68.

At one point, they all had a share of the lead at 16-under with Rahm, who seemed more stressed than an accountant on tax day. That was mainly because, as he alluded to earlier, the putter that seemed to shake off an early-season cold snap (he ranked 132nd in strokes gained/putting on the PGA Tour coming into the week) returned to the deep freeze over the weekend. After a brilliant 64-66 start, the heavily favored World No. 2 converted just seven birdies over his final 36 holes. On Sunday, the field collectively registered 309 birdies; Rahm contributed just three.

“Thursday, Friday I played amazing, and I was in incredible control of my game. Seemed like really nothing could go wrong,” said Rahm, who had a share of the first-round lead and then outright the rest of the tournament, including a two-stroke lead over Kitayama and Cameron Champ after 54 holes. “Yesterday, I played really good tee to green, just couldn’t make the putts. Today felt good, but I just couldn’t quite get started. And I had my chances, I had my putts, and I just didn’t make them.”

Fortunately, he banked one when he really needed it, sinking an 11-footer on the par-5 14th hole that broke the four-way tie. “The one that finally went in outside five feet on 14 was a huge booster,” he said. Pars the rest of the way sealed the deal.

Rahm holds his son Kepa and celebrates with wife Kelly after closing out his win on Sunday.

Hector Vivas

Rahm probably was due for a win, and he sure looked beyond satisfied when he tapped in his two-inch par putt at the last, pumping his first emphatically and finally allowing himself to smile. Recall that he started the year shooting a 33-under 259 masterpiece at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, the lowest score in relation to par in PGA Tour history—except for the 258 Cameron Smith countered with to steal the victory. Rahm has finished 21st or better in all but two of his 10 starts this season. And let’s not forget that he was an absolute beast for Europe in a losing effort in the Ryder Cup last fall.

Rahm might think he wins in “different styles,” but if you put aside the clutch birdie putts on the final two holes of the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, you know he won his first major the way he usually wins, and that is with a punishing, pugilistic tee-to-green arsenal. He arrived in Mexico ranked first on tour in strokes gained/off the tee and second tee-to-green, and, well, look here: he was second and third, respectively in those two categories at Vidanta.

Rahm said that he found something during a final-round 69 at the Masters paired with Tiger Woods. Frankly, he found himself.

“I think that Sunday with Tiger at Augusta gave me quite a bit of confidence,” he said. “I was a little bit technical in my approach, a little too technical. I’m a feel player, and that Sunday I told myself just go out there and hit the golf ball, make shots, see the ball flight and execute and I shot a three under without having my best stuff on a tough day. So, I applied the same thing this week, minimal technical thoughts and just visualizing ball flight of the shot and getting back to my true self and I truly saw the difference.

“Sometimes we deviate from our path, but this time we didn’t.”

Neither did he deviate in his demeanor. Being the top-ranked player in the field didn’t mean much to him because, he said, “I like to think every time I tee it up, I’m the favorite, because I play to win.” So, yeah, he exudes an intensity on the course for which he will not apologize. But he’ll tell you in the next breath that off the course he’s just a big softie.

Like here, in this next breath.

“When it’s go time, it’s go time. When it’s over, it’s over,” he said. “I’ve said it many times, I’m a very different person on and off the golf course, especially when I’m competing on a Sunday. That’s a stressful part of the job. You’ll see a much more serious face and a much more intense look outside. … This should be a difference, right, on and off the golf course? We’re in there to do a job, it’s a different mental state. I don’t know how or why I switch it so quickly, but it’s just how it’s always been.”

Not always. Not on this Sunday. His attitude helped carry him to victory. Absolutely. Positively.

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The post Nothing came easy for Jon Rahm at the Mexico Open, which made winning that much sweeter appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The top man in a (weak) field wasted no time establishing himself as the guy to beat by shooting an opening 64 to grab a share of the Day 1 lead at seven-under par. Although there’s a lot of golf left, Rahm is in the driving seat already.

Rahm averaged 324.6 yards off the tee on Thursday while missing just one fairway at Vidanta Vallarta, a course hosting the PGA Tour for the first time. He hit 15 greens while gaining nearly 1.5 strokes putting. In other words, the World No. 2 had everything working during his bogey-free round, but he was particularly happy with his driver.

“Yeah, really comfortable off the tee,” Rahm told reporters. “It’s not like it’s ever bad, but today felt especially comfortable. It’s not the most demanding golf course off the tee, right, besides 10 and maybe 1. You’re not really in real danger of being in bad position, but even though it’s generous, when I’m hitting shots the way with the trajectory and the ball flight that I wanted, it just gives me more confidence for every other shot. I was really comfortable out there, so it reflected on the score.”

One of those tee shots found the green on the drivable par-4 seventh, and Rahm converted the 40-footer for his lone eagle of the day. However, he was most proud of a short-game shot early in his round.

“You know, I’m going to say the chip shot on 13, chipped that one in,” said Rahm, who started on the back nine. “I hadn’t hit my best iron shots early on, right? Misjudged it on 10, double crossed it on 11, double crossed it on 13 and got the first two up-and-downs and then chipped that one in from an uncomfortable lie and tough one, right? That was a huge bonus. I think a lot of people obviously would look at the eagle on 7, but that one early on was a huge booster.”

Incredibly, Rahm hasn’t won anywhere since capturing his first major last June at the US Open. But he’s certainly in position to end that drought this week.

Here are other takeaways from Day 1 at Vidanta Vallarta.

A PGA Tour Latinoamerica player proves he can hang

Rahm wasn’t the only player going low on Thursday, particularly during the morning wave when the wind wasn’t blowing as hard. In fact, there’s a six-way tie at the top that includes Bryson Nimmer. Yep, Bryson Nimmer.

Bryson Nimmer. Hector Vivas

You’re forgiven if you haven’t heard of this 25-year-old pro who joined the PGA Tour Latinoamerica this year and played his college golf at Clemson. Making just his ninth career PGA Tour start, Nimmer was four-under at the turn before a pair of bogeys to start his back nine. But after a couple pars, he caught fire down the stretch by shooting five-under over his final five holes to grab a share of the lead.

Nimmer got into this event by Monday qualifying, but it’s not the first time this year that his name has surfaced on a PGA Tour leaderboard. Just last month he finished T-11 in the Corales Puntacana Championship. Still, he knows how much an even bigger week could do for his career.

“It’s really hard. You just don’t know where you’re going to play, I think that’s the hardest part,” he said. “The Mondays, you know, it’s an opportunity, it’s just a chance to get out here. I’ve been trying to take advantage of it. This is the second one of the year that I’ve gotten through, so it’s really nice that we have those chances and those opportunities and it would be really nice to get some status though.”

Three more 64s and that won’t be a problem.

A rare (Jonathan) Byrd sighting

Another Clemson product — albeit a much older Clemson product than Nimmer — turning heads on Thursday was Jonathan Byrd. The 44-year-old is also part of that logjam at the top with Nimmer and Rahm (along with Brendon Todd, Trey Mullinax and Kurt Kitayama).

Jonathan Byrd. Orlando Ramirez

Byrd has just three PGA Tour top-10s in the past eight years and it’s been more than 11 years since his third and most recent win.

“I’m still trying to prove I’m 44 and I can compete with these guys,” Byrd said. “It’s getting harder. I played with Taylor Moore and Alex Smalley today, two new studs on the PGA Tour, and they hit it far and they hit a lot of quality shots. But I still have something to prove, I still feel like I can compete. Every week is an opportunity for me to have fun with it and see what I can do.”

After having to go back to Q school last year, Byrd was worried about the number of opportunities he would have this season. But his solid play, including a T-9 at Pebble Beach in February, has helped.

“I started the year thinking I might get in 15, looks like I might get in more like 20,” he said. “I’m just happy to have starts. And my game’s good, so trying to stay aggressive and see what I can make of it.”

An even rarer pair of aces

And, finally, congratulations to Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Scott Gutschewski for both making a hole-in-one on the par-3 fifth hole. And congrats to me as well for spelling both of their names properly. At least, I think I did.

Anyway, it’s just the fourth time in PGA Tour history that there have been multiple holes-in-one on the same hole during the same round of a tournament. The last such occasion? The final round of the 2016 Masters when Shane Lowry, Davis Love III and Louis Oosthuizen all aced the 16th hole. But that was a shorter hole with a much easier pin position, while Kiradech and Scott did it on the 188-yard par 3 at Vidanta Vallarta. Here’s Kiradech’s, which came in the first group of the day to reach the hole:

The first group to play the 5th hole today …@Kiradech drains it for the ACE! pic.twitter.com/gMBqRNGnNF

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 28, 2022

And here’s Scott’s:

The second ace of the day on the 5th hole!@S_Gutschewski one-hops it in for his second career hole-in-one on TOUR. pic.twitter.com/62TEOqraZY

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 28, 2022

And, yes, I’m purposely avoiding typing their last names one last time.

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The post Mexico Open takeaways: Rahm an even bigger favourite, a PGA Tour Latinoamerica pro proves he can hang, a rare pair of aces appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Phil Mickelson remains in his self-appointed penalty box, although a Monday statement from his agent Steve Loy conveyed that Mickelson may be nearing a return. How Mickelson will be received following his controversial remarks and alleged conduct will be one of the many unknowns surrounding the 51-year-old when he tees it up again. To Jon Rahm, he hopes the answer to that question is one of embrace.

Rahm, speaking to Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis ahead of this week’s Mexico Open, believed what Mickelson said and did shouldn’t damage his legacy.

“That guy has given his life to golf,” Rahm said about Mickelson. “A lot of what we have, a lot of people don’t know, a lot of what we have and what we are competing for right now is because of [Phil]. A lot of people focus on Tiger, but [Mickelson] is easily one of the top 10 best players of all time. He is a Hall of Famer, and we should recognize him as that. He has given his life to the public. No one has signed more autographs, no one has done more for the fans.

“I know he’s in a bit of a slump for whatever it may be. I don’t think his whole career or whole legacy should change because of a couple comments.”

Rahm’s ties to Mickelson run deep; Rahm played for Phil’s brother Tim at Arizona State with Phil serving as a mentor for Rahm when the Spaniard arrived on tour. Rahm is also represented by the aforementioned Loy. Moreover, Rahm is not the first to defend Mickelson, as Rory McIlroy asserted back in March that the players “want to see [Phil] back.”

Nevertheless, Rahm preached forgiveness for Mickelson while contending that the road to forgiveness starts with Phil.

“Everyone makes mistakes and everything can be rectified. I believe that can happen,” Rahm said, “but it has to come from him as well.”

On Monday, Loy confirmed that Mickelson is registered for both the PGA Championship and U.S. Open while also stating Mickelson has sought a release from the PGA Tour to play in the first LIV Golf series event in London. However, Loy reiterated that “Phil currently has no concrete plans on when and where he will play.”

“Any actions taken are in no way a reflection of a final decision made,” Loy said, “but rather to keep all options open.”

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The post Jon Rahm hopes Phil Mickelson’s controversial remarks don’t damage legacy appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.