By Daniel Rapaport
DUBLIN, Ohio — It wasn’t easy. Jon Rahm knew it wouldn’t be. He started the final round of the Memorial with a four-shot lead, but realized Muirfield Village would bring everything it had on Sunday. Not all four-shot leads are created equal.

Rahm would have to fight off a U.S. Open-ready golf course, and 20-plus-mile-per-hour winds that rendered some greens downright unholdable. And he was competing against the strongest field assembled in a non-major championship. Then there was a five-hole stretch that saw his game go missing. Oh, and add a rules controversy to boot. All this while also knowing a victory would accomplish one of those childhood-dream-come-true moments: Becoming World No. 1.

Yep, it wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t pretty, but it was enough. Rahm gutted out a three-over 75, which included a late two-shot penalty, to win the Memorial by three shots over Ryan Palmer. His victory, coupled with a T-32 finish from Rory McIlroy, means he now sits alone at the summit of this sport.

At just 25, Rahm becomes the 24th man to reach the top spot and the second Spaniard to do so, joining only his hero, Seve Ballesteros.

“It’s pretty surreal to think it’s happened this quickly,” said Rahm, after shooting a nine-under 279 for the week at Muirfield Village, by far the highest winning 72 hole score since the PGA Tour resumed its season six weeks ago. “How many people get to achieve a lifelong dream in their mid-20s? It’s incredible. To be a Spaniard, the second Spaniard to ever do it, given there’s not many Europeans that have gotten to this spot, it’s a pretty unique feeling, so I’m going to enjoy it for a while.”

It’s also a bit bittersweet, given he has lost two family members since the COVID-19 pandemic began, including his grandmother, and has been unable to attend either funeral.

Becoming World No. 1 has, to some extent, always felt more like a when than an if moment for Rahm. He was the top-ranked amateur in the world for more than 60 weeks, more than any golfer since the ranking was created in 2007. McIlroy has said that when TaylorMade signed Rahm out of Arizona State, they felt they’d signed a top-10 player in the world right then and there. After turning pro in the summer of 2016, Rahm finished tied for third in his first PGA Tour event as a professional and tied for second in his fourth. When you ask other tour players about his game, you’ll get some version of the same response: That guy is really freakin’ good. And tour players are a notoriously tough audience. They don’t hand out compliments easy.

Rahm’s 68 on Saturday, which put some daylight between him and his chasers, was a tour de force. He was a world-class player at the top of his game, every shot in his arsenal present and accounted for. He’s had that for a while, though. He’s also had an internal drive fueling him, a passion so fervent that it sometimes becomes counterproductive. Simply put: Rahm runs hot. Which is OK, of course. Tiger Woods famously ran rather warm in his younger years. Rahm is still learning how to properly channel it, to calm himself down and avoid the self-inflicted wounds that have, by his own admission, hindered him in the past.

“A couple years ago, I don’t think I would be here with a four-shot lead right now going into tomorrow,” Rahm said Saturday night. “It’s a slow process. Unfortunately, I’m a person who learns from mistakes, and luckily I’ve been able to. Hopefully I can keep doing it tomorrow and just follow the same mindset that I’ve had the last few days.”

He would need every iota of that newfound patience. The conditions on Sunday demanded it of every player in the field. Mother Nature teamed up with an already-devilish setup to produce a golf course that yielded exactly one score in the 60s—a 68 from Matthew Fitzpatrick, with Jim (Bones) Mackay on the bag, en route to a solo third finish. Meanwhile, nine players shot in the 80s. It was the highest-scoring average (75.96) on the PGA Tour since the first round of the 2018 U.S. Open at big, bad, baked-out Shinnecock Hills.

Andy Lyons
Rahm hits his second shot on the 16th at Muirfield Village on Sunday. He’d hole the flop shot for what he thought was a birdie, but would become a bogey after he received a two-stroke penalty for moving the ball mistakenly before hitting the shot.

Rahm, though, didn’t seem to notice the high scores around him. At least not early. When he turned on Sunday in two-under 34, he held an eight-shot advantage and this tournament by the throat. He loosened his grip considerably over the next five holes, going bogey/double bogey/par/par/bogey from Nos. 10-14 to give Palmer a glimmer of hope.

“I could have completely lost it many times,” Rahm said. “Maybe in the past I would have, but I didn’t. I just kept fighting. I knew it was a complete grind, and it’s a true honour to be now the Memorial Tournament champion.”

But Palmer, 18 years older than Rahm and his teammate when the two won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans team event in 2019, could not convert a key birdie putt on 14, then failed to birdie the par-5 15th, sinking any comeback chances … to win the main tournament.

“At the end of the day I guess I won the ‘other’ tournament,” Palmer said. “Coming in the last two holes I told myself, I’ve got a two-shot lead. That’s at least clear [solo] second, and I know what that’s going to do for me coming up soon.”

The outcome was not in doubt when the final pairing stepped to the 16th tee. Only the margin of victory, which wouldn’t sort itself out until after Rahm holed out on 18. Clouding things was a rules issue on the 16th hole. After tugging his 9-iron long and left of the par-3 green, Rahm hit a jaw-droppingly good little flop shot, which pitched on the front edge of the green and found the bottom of the hole. He yelled, and he slapped Palmer’s hand high-five, and it was a signature moment that signified his ascension to World No. 1.

Jamie Squire
Rahm celebrates on the 18th green after winning his fourth career PGA Tour title.

Until it wasn’t. A zoomed-in camera on the broadcast showed Rahm causing his TaylorMade ball to move, which ultimately resulted in a two-stroke penalty. He didn’t find out until CBS’ Amanda Balionis told him afterwards. He looked genuinely shocked but eventually agreed with the decision to dock him the two shots after seeing the indisputable evidence.

“All I can say is as minimal as it was, it moved; I accept it,” Rahm said. “It doesn’t change the outcome of the tournament. It just puts a little bit of an asterisk in it in the sense of I wish I could just keep that birdie because it was one of the greatest shots of my life.”

Ultimately, it mattered little besides soiling what would have been an iconic moment. Rahm parred 17 and 18 for what he thought was a five-shot victory. OK, so it was actually a three-shot victory. Good thing margin of victory does not matter on the PGA Tour. Or the World Rankings.

The post For Jon Rahm, becoming World No. 1 was never a matter of if, but when. And the when came in spectacular fashion appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
Even without the presence of Bryson DeChambeau, the PGA Tour still managed to provide some soap-opera-level drama late on Sunday at the Memorial.

While opening up an eight-shot lead at one point, things got interesting for Jon Rahm coming down the stretch at Muirfield Village. A little too interesting, perhaps. Ryan Palmer had cut Rahm’s lead to three with three to play, and even just one birdie would have done wonders given the rules issue that bubbled up on the 16th hole.

Ultimately, the two-stroke penalty that Rahm received (more on that in a minute) left him winning by three instead of five. It’s his third solo victory on the PGA Tour, and given the conditions and the strength of field, it’s by far his most impressive. The new World No. 1 certainly earned that title.

Here are our four takeaways from Sunday at Muirfield Village.

Jon Rahm hung on, and that’s all that matters
First, we should point out just how good Rahm’s front nine on Sunday was. Coming off a Saturday 68 that he called “one of the rounds of my life,” he backed it up with a front-nine 34 that all but closed the door on everyone. Yes, he quickly gave a few back on 10 and 11, and seemed to begin running a little hot, as he tends to do. But he managed to play the final seven holes in even par (before the two-shot penalty). He hung on, which was all he needed to do to ascend to the World No. 1 ranking, which he absolutely deserves.

However …

One can’t help but wonder if someone truly challenged him, especially now that he was actually hit with the two-stroke penalty for moving his ball, albeit mistakenly, on the 16th hole when he prepared to hit the chip shot from behind the green, how those final few holes may have shaken out. Palmer battled all day, but never really put intense pressure on his Zurich Classic teammate. Rahm was afforded the opportunity to limp home, which he did up until the 16th, when he ended the tournament with an incredible (and controversial chip-in):

WOW. @JonRahmPGA with an unbelievable birdie ? pic.twitter.com/UWAmYOUp4W

— GOLFonCBS (@GOLFonCBS) July 19, 2020

Jon Rahm was assessed a two-stroke penalty for a violation of Rule 9.4 after a ball at rest moved.

His score on the par-3 16th has been adjusted from a 2 to a 4. pic.twitter.com/HWbIN2woTr

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 20, 2020

Turns out, that was for bogey, which (checks notes) still gives Rahm a three-shot win. He was dominant this week, and a back-nine 41 with a two-stroke penalty in brutal conditions does not change that fact.

Was Jack Nicklaus sending a message this week?
This seems to be a theory among many of Golf Twitter’s most-trusted voices: That the Golden Bear cranked up the pain-meter at Muirfield Village this week to counteract the way tournament golf is tilting these days. The question is, does Jack have that much say in the setup, which is handled by the PGA Tour? One would think he has a little given it’s his golf course. It certainly seemed that way, what with how Muirfield Village played like the U.S. Opens of old this week. And by U.S. Opens of old, we mean the ones where the course went all the way to, or just over, the proverbial edge.

I think I speak for many when I say I enjoyed it, especially after the barrage of birdie fests over the previous few weeks since the PGA Tour resumed play. Carnage is often entertaining, except when it borderline unfair carnage (see: Shinnecock (twice), Merion, Oakmont, etc.). Then you wonder if it’s really testing the best players or does it become a clown show? It was still more the former than the latter this week in Ohio, although seeing Phil Mickelson use a putter from the fairway 78 yards from the hole hints that things got close.

Considering Nicklaus’ comments earlier the week on a ball roll back, however, you do have to wonder if the Golden Bear was making a point, too. Is letting the rough grow knee deep, narrowing the fairways, hoping the wind blows like crazy and making the greens more slippery than a freshly zamboni’d hockey rink the only way to make it tough on these guys now? Sure starting to feel that way.

Sam Greenwood

Nobody goes low in absurdly difficult conditions like Matt Fitzpatrick
Seriously, does anybody live for carnage more than Matty Fitz? Somehow the 5-foot-10, 155-pounds-soaking-wet Englishman shot a four-under 68 despite Sunday’s absurdly difficult conditions. He was one of just five players under par, and the only one to shoot a round lower than two under. His only bogey came at the opening hole, after which he played the remaining 17 in a ridiculous five under. For his efforts, he jumped 15 spots on the leader board, ultimately finishing in solo third, which should also help him make a significant jump in the OWGR (currently 27th).

Anyway, back to Fitz living for chaos. At the 2016 Masters, Fitzpatrick entered the final round at five over, eight back of Jordan Spieth’s 54-hole lead. On an incredibly blustery day at Augusta National, he proceeded to post a final-round, five-under 67. It was one of three 67s on the day, the other two shot by fellow countrymen Paul Casey, who finished T-4, and Danny Willett, who won. Fitzpatrick tied for seventh.

Two years later, during a brutal week at Shinnecock, which hosted the 2018 U.S. Open, Fitzpatrick managed to post an even-par 70 on Friday and another 70 on Sunday, which earned him a T-12. Last year, at Pebble Beach, a final-round 68 earned him a second straight T-12 finish in the U.S. Open. This past year he finished T-9 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational thanks to a three-under 69 on Sunday, the lowest round in the field. We could go on, but you get the point. Turn up the fan, bake out the greens and watch as everyone in the field melts into a puddle. While all that’s happening, Matt Fitzpatrick is probably shooting a 67.

Sam Greenwood

Pray for Henrik Norlander
The “Pray for” someone thing is a bit of a joke on social media, but seriously, pray for Norlander. On Sunday, the Swede had a chance to lock up a U.S. Open bid by finishing inside the top 10. The catch: He was battling for two spots with Ryan Palmer and Mackenzie Hughes, who were also inside the top 10 at day’s end. Palmer was safe thanks to his solo second, meaning Norlander just had to finish higher than Hughes. A par on 18 would have helped him clip the Canadian by one, but he made bogey, so they tied at three-under. They both get in then, right?

Oh, so wrong. There was a tiebreaker between Hughes and Norlander, and it came down to each player’s position in the Official World Golf Ranking. Hughes is 97th. Norlander 189th. The second spot went to Hughes.

Brutal, brutal stuff for Norlander. But he’ll still have his chances over the next five weeks, as players can still earn spots into the U.S. Open in those events. But he’d feel a lot better about his T-6 right now had it gotten him into Winged Foot.

The post Jon Rahm hangs on, ascends to world No. 1 and three other takeaways from Sunday at the Memorial appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
Brooks Koepka can thank Tony Finau for assuring the PGA Tour player of the year’s latest stint at No. 1 in the World Rankings lasted at least more than one week. But Justin Rose will have another shot to grab the top spot before the end of the 2018.

Prior to the Hero World Challenge, Rose had fallen just percentage points behind Koepka in the World Rankings, the fourth time the two had exchanged the title since the first week of November. But Rose had the opportunity to return to No. 1 again on Sunday so long as he finished in a three-way tie for second or better in the Bahamas.

And it appeared Rose might do just that, shooting an impressive final-round 65 at Albany to jump from eighth place to a share of second at 15 under par. The only problem: The golfer he was sharing second with, Finau, was in the final pairing with eventual winner Jon Rahm and had one more hole to play.

On the 18th, Finau hit his approach shot to 10 feet, then rolled in the birdie putt to get to 16 under and grab solo second while knocking Rose into solo third. That kept Rose in the No. 2 spot where as a miss would have let him jump to No. 1. (Finau’s final-hole birdie also gave him enough points to move from No. 14 to No. 9, the first time he has cracked the top 10 in his career.)

David Cannon/Getty Images

Perhaps the back and forth for the top spot has numbed Rose of the honor, considering how excited he sounded when he earned it for the first time after losing the BMW Championship in playoff in September.

“It’s not a huge goal for me, but when you have these opportunities you want to take them,” Rose told Golf Channel on Sunday. “Obviously anytime you get to No. 1 you want to stay there, it’s a nice feeling.”

Rose should have another chance to pass Koepka and jump to No. 1 before the end of the year as he is scheduled to play in the Indonesian Open in two weeks, a tournament he won a year ago.

NEWSFLASH:

The Indonesian Masters is the flagship event on the @asiantourgolf. Its profile will be now further enhanced by this #1 story. Current projection suggests a SoF of 26-28p to the winner.

That means @JustinRose99 will need a top 13(ish) finish to return to No.1. #OWGR

— Nosferatu (@VC606) December 2, 2018

The post Justin Rose’s chance to grab World No. 1 back from Brooks Koepka is spoiled by Tony Finau (Don’t worry, we’ll explain) appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Rose’s second runner-up in as many weeks will knock Dustin Johnson from the top spot. Rose will be the 22nd player to be ranked No. 1 since the OWGR was established in 1986. He will join Nick Faldo, Lee Westwood and Luke Donald as the only English-born golfers to hold the position. And despite the tough playoff loss at Aronimink, Rose seemed pretty pumped about it:

We did it Dad…. World Number 1⃣ Thank you so much to my family, friends & everybody that has helped me achieve this incredible goal. Also, my sponsors @TaylorMadeGolf @adidasGolf @Hublot @Mastercard @ZurichNAnews @MorganStanley @LamkinGrips Thank you! #Team? pic.twitter.com/geZgcpTR7U

— Justin Rose ? (@JustinRose99) September 10, 2018

This is the second time Johnson has lost his grasp on the No. 1 ranking this season. After holding the top spot for 64 consecutive weeks, Justin Thomas moved to No. 1 for four weeks before DJ reclaimed the title after his win at the FedEx St. Jude Classic in June.

Keegan Bradley, who beat Rose on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff at the BMW Championship on Monday, is projected to move up to No. 31 from No. 66. And Tiger Woods, who shot a final-round 65 to finish T-6, will climb to No. 21. Here’s how the new ranking is expected to look:

#OWGR update after week #36:

1 ?
2DJ
3BK
4JT
5Franki
6Rory
7Rahm
8BdC
9Fowler
10Spieth
11Day
12Tommy
13Bubba
14Reed
15Finau
17Webb
18Xander
20Hideki
21 ?
25Phil
31Keegan ?
38MattFitz ?
48BillyHo

— Nosferatu (@VC606) September 10, 2018

Rose, 38, is a nine-time PGA Tour winner, a 10-time European Tour winner, and, of course, the 2013 U.S. Open champ. Throw in a Gold Medal at the 2016 Olympics and this ascension to golf’s top spot, and Rose has the making of a Hall-of-Fame career already. Now No. 2 in the FedEx Cup standings heading into next week’s Tour Championship, he’s also in great position to add that PGA Tour season-long award to his résumé.

The post Justin Rose loses BMW playoff, still moves to No. 1 in Official World Golf Ranking appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Speaking with the media at this week’s RBC Canadian Open, Johnson admitted he’s not fully healthy from the staircase incident.

“I’m still feeling the effects of it,” Johnson said on Wednesday. “No pain or anything like that. But it’s still a little tight. I’m having to get worked on a good bit just to try to loosen up those muscles and those tendons where it got injured.”

While Johnson finished runner-up at the Wells Fargo Championship in his return from injury, he’s struggled as of late, missing the weekend at the Memorial and U.S. Open. And though he showed signs of life at Royal Birkdale, he ultimately finished outside the top 50. It’s his worst three-week stretch on tour since the winter of 2013.

Johnson also conceded that he’s not just battling physical elements.

“Mentally, little lack of confidence. Just because I was playing so well leading into that,” Johnson said. “Probably for 10-to-12 months leading into the Masters, a year into the Masters, I was playing really good golf.”

But, though his final-round 77 was the worst Sunday score at the Open Championship, Johnson said he’s happy with his progress. More importantly, this week’s venue, Glen Abbey, is a place where the 33-year-old has enjoyed success in the past, with runner-ups in his last two appearances.

“It’s been a bit of a struggle, but I’ve put a lot of work to get back to where I was,” Johnson said. “And I’m starting to see signs of it. It’s all good, it’s all positive and it’s all moving forward.”

Johnson tees off on Thursday at 1:25 PM with Jhonattan Vegas and Jim Furyk.

The post Dustin Johnson admits he’s still feeling effects from Masters back injury appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.