Sensational Jon Rahm Claims Maiden Major Title

Only two weeks ago Jon Rahm was six shots clear going into the final round of the Memorial Tournament before being informed he had tested positive for Covid.

Despite the heartbreak that week, he would make a winning return to Torrey Pines, the course that played host to his first ever PGA Tour title in 2018, where he claimed his maiden Major title and became the first ever Spaniard to win the US Open.

Going into the tournament as the favourite, Rahm would shoot rounds of 69, 70 and 72 to sit three shots back of overnight leaders Mackenzie Hughes, Louis Oosthuizen and Russell Henley.

With back-to-back birdies at his two opening holes, the 26-year-old would inch himself closer to the leaders.

A bogey at the fourth would drop the Spaniard back, before a huge slice of luck on the monstrous 677-yard 9th hole.

Pulling his drive left, Rahm’s ball was destined for the out of bounds. However, instead of it being a reload off of the tee, the ball would end up resting against a hospitality fence, which was just short of the OB line.

As a result, the Spaniard was given a free drop, this was due to the fence being used to cover the hospitality area.

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With the drop, Rahm would take full advantage, putting his wedge shot to near gimme range, leading to a birdie four and just a single shot back from leader Bryson DeChambeau.

As the difficult back nine ebbed and flowed, DeChambeau would implode, with a double and quadruple bogey putting a stop to the defence of his title.

With Rahm and several others in contention, it seemed a mundane back nine of seven consecutive pars would put him short of yet another Major championship.

Rahm plays a shot from a fairway bunker on the 17th hole. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

That was until a well placed bunker shot at the 17th was followed up by a sublime left-to-right birdie putt that never looked like missing.

Now tied with Oosthuizen and with a tonne of adrenaline flowing, Rahm would bomb his drive perfectly down the left side of the fairway.

Despite pushing his approach into the bunker, he would place the following shot to 15-feet, with yet another sloping left to right putt standing in his way.

The 18th green is one that Rahm is familiar with, with his eagle putt in 2017 all but announcing him on the world stage.

And with that memory firmly in the head of every golf fan around the world, the Spaniard would better it, holing an almost identical putt to that of the previous hole to huge fanfare around the 18th green.

Being greeted by his wife and his son, Kepa, Rahm would have a nerve wracking wait, with Oosthuizen still out on the course.

With pars at the 15th and 16th, he would find the hazard with his drive at the 17th, failing to get up-and-down for par.

Being forced to lay up on the 18th, Oosthuizen couldn’t hole his wedge shot, leaving Rahm to claim his first Major title and the number one spot in the world.