He didn’t win, but once again he made the Spanish Open his own. Jon Rahm made a stirring comeback on the final day of play at the Villa de Madrid Country Club, coming close to an impossible goal with a card of 64 shots, seven under par. The challenge was Himalayan, the climb from the 34th step to the summit, and the Basque used the last drop of petrol when he could have gone. A round of eight birdies and one bogey put him in ninth place at -14, the best Spaniard along with Alfredo García-Heredia, well from the summit. Rahm was replaced on the Open tally by Frenchman Matthieu Pavon, who was second last year and celebrated his first title on the European circuit at the age of 30 after 185 appearances. At -23, he broke Rahm’s record of -25, the lowest against par in the tournament.
Pavon, son of a former Betis midfielder (Michel Pavon, 2000-01 season), grandson of a Madrid-born and Andorra-based player, triumphed ahead of South African Zander Lombard (-19). The day’s round was led by German Marcel Siem with -10. And after Rahm and García-Heredia, the Spanish list was rounded off by Alejandro del Rey with -12 and Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño and Pablo Larrazábal with -11.
The never seen. Not even Rahm himself remembers starting a tournament with four birdies in the first four holes. It was a perfect sequence that thrilled the audience, who followed the champion’s every move. On the 1st, a shot that took up 335 of the hole’s 461 meters and a converted putt from six meters; on the second shot, another exit shot into the middle of the fairway and an even more difficult hole from seven meters away; a flag dart on the par 3 of 3 that came to an end, prompting shouts of “¡Se puede!” among the followers; on the par 5 4th, the required birdie. Rahm was powerful and precise, a no-nonsense walk-off hitter and a surgeon on the mat. In four steps this week he had already achieved his best result in a complete round.
Two pars later he hit 7 again, and on the 8th he made a great showing from the edge of the green with a bingo from twenty-five feet. There were six shots in eight holes and the crowd roared as he tried to stay calm and keep going, bite by bite.
That rhythm was vicious and the brakes came: four pars in a row and a bogey on 13 when he missed a short putt that froze the volcano. When he lost the fairway on the left in the 14th minute, took a shot on his return to the ring and settled for par, the possibility of breaking the tie with Seve Ballesteros as three-time national champion disappeared. Still, he rowed until he brought the stands back to their feet on the par-4 18th with a rocket that touched the green. He shot for an eagle from the edge, but the ball stopped before the final spin. Rahm dropped to one knee and looked up at the sky before closing. “I’ll remember this putt all night long. I thought it was going to go in the middle and it fell to the right. It hurt me with all my heart. It would have been incredible to show this to the public,” he said after leaving the last station with his two children Kepa and Eneko in his arms.
In 20 rounds played at the Spanish Open over five editions, Rahm finished under 70 strokes in 18 of them. Friday’s slip prevented him from challenging at the top for a new title, which would add to the Ryder’s four wins this season (including the Augusta Masters). The finale of the European circuit from November 16th to 19th in Dubai will conclude an unforgettable year: “He is the best. By the way, it was 2021. This year I was very close.”
Final classification of the Acciona Open of Spain.
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