It was a day more prone to tears than laughter, but Jon Rahm decided to take the last round of The Memorial philosophical, one of the designated events on the calendar, which he won in 2020. Muirfield Village has not smiled on him this year, designed by Jack Nicklaus in Dublin, on the outskirts of Columbus (Ohio, USA), in which he had the opportunity to climb back to the first place in the world ranking. Condition sine qua non It was, at least, a solitary second place that was far away, 16th tied with the field after the four mandatory challenges, +2 this Sunday in the last one.
The Biscayan laughed several times. Of happiness in the ninth, where he holed it from the fairway for eagle; out of pure desperation on several occasions, such as in the exit from the bunker that returned to his feet at 15, or the tie that fell on him at 13. It was another completely unbalanced day off the tee, in which he hit four fairways of 14, and on the greens, just over a missed putter. Like Saturday, he started with bogey and hit three in a row, missing two putts under five feet along the way. He finished with six in total, for two birdies. The only thing more consistent this week was his approach. A pity because the victory was not expensive in numerical terms.
In fact Scottie Scheffler, the man with whom number one was at stake, and with whom he shared a game in the last round, came back over the weekend after delivering two cards over par in the first two days and He finished with -5 to -6, which was much more than he needed to retain the crown, since he was worth being in the top-16 as long as Rahmbo did not win. And that, like the latter, he suffered with the putter since Thursday. In total he left more than eight strokes in the 72 holes, a record with which no one since there are advanced statistics has managed to enter the top-20 of a tournament. He ended up provisional leader at home club. A total golfer.
Hovland debuts in the major leagues
The last tournament of the León de Barrika before the US Openwhich will host Los Angeles in two weeks, was the scene of a playoff for the victory between the American Denny McCarthy and the Norwegian Viktor Hovland, who dismounted the triumvirate that ended up in the lead on Saturday, made up of a McIlroy (+3 for -3) that has not been seen since October, and that of late has been showing a worrying lack of fang when he arrives on Sunday with options for a player with 23 victories on the tour, the Korean Si Woo Kim (+1 for – 5) and the American David Lipsky (+5 for -1).
They played it, after finishing both with -7, the poorest result compared to par since Hale Irwin’s triumph in 1995, Denny McCarthy, one of the best kickers on the circuit and a day laborer who by mid-year has already played 23 tournaments , who has already come close to glory three times so far this season, especially at Pebble Beach, and the Norwegian Viktor Hovland, already a three-time champion but in much lesser events. The first round was played on 18 and ruled in favor of Hovland, who took par while McCarthy dropped the bogey as punishment for missing the fairway. Another good news for European golf in what is being a certain rearmament for the Ryder next September.