Jon Rahm Successfully Defends Spanish Open

Rahm shot a closing 66 to win by five strokes at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid

Jon Rahm Successfully Defends Spanish Open

Jon Rahm became the fastest Spaniard to win five European Tour titles with his dominant defence of the Spanish Open in Madrid.

Rahm began the day five ahead and victory was never in doubt after he eagled the fourth hole.

He then added four more birdies and one bogey to shoot five under.

He shot a 66 to reach 22 under par and beat Rafa Cabrera Bello in second.

Samuel Del Val, the third member of the final threesome, rounded off a Spain 1-2-3, finishing seven back at 15 under.

Rahm has now won five European Tour titles quicker than any Spaniard, with this being his ninth professional victory in three years of the paid ranks.

The 24-year-old is now up to fourth in the world with his third title of the year, after the Zurich Classic doubles tournament on the PGA Tour and the Irish Open.

He also moved to the top of the Race to Dubai standings with just seven events left of the 2019 European Tour season.

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"In front of a home crowd, it's always really hard for me to keep everything under control and to play the weekend that I did for them, it's always really fun," he said.

"I can't wait to come back next year and hopefully do it three times.

"He (Ballesteros) did turn pro a lot earlier than I did so age-wise I think he's beaten me. Still, to beat Seve in something, it's unbelievable. He's one of the main references from European golf and world golf in general.

"It's great that I've done it here, to beat Seve's record with his last professional win being at this course as well, it's very special for me. Any time I can do anything close to what he did is unbelievable.

"That's why I'm here. trying to make Spanish golf bigger and grow the sport in Spain like he did. Hopefully with these wins I'm doing a decent job."

Spanish Open leaderboard:

1 Jon Rahm -22

2 Rafa Cabrera Bello -17

3 Samuel Del Val -15

4 Adri Arnaus -13

4 Jeff Winther -13

4 JB Hansen -13

7 Sergio Garcia -12

7 Justin Harding -12

7 Masahiro Kawamura -12

7 Zander Lombard -12

7 Jason Scrivener -12

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