Jon Rahm put on a stunning display to win the 2022 Acciona Open de España presented by Madrid and delight the fans who had turned out to watch him match the great Seve Ballesteros. Results
Like Ballesteros, Rahm is now a three-time winner of his national Open after striding clear of his rivals with a nine-under-par 62 in his final round at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.
Rahm's fireworks took him to 25 under, with Matthieu Pavon next best on 19 under after a 65 and Min Woo Lee a further shot back after closing with a 68.
Lee was a shot behind overnight and said he hoped the fans would be treated to a show but Rahm made sure the rest of the field were little more than a supporting cast.
There was little Lee could do and it was all but over when they walked off the 14th. Rahm almost managed an albatross, only the pace of the ball kept it from dropping when his second shot, from the rough more than 200 yards away, hammered into the bottom of the pin and skidded off. But an eagle and Lee's bogey meant the gap was six shots with four holes to play.
Two birdies in his final three holes took Pavon above Lee but it was all about Rahm and he finished with a flourish, birdies at 17 and 18 adding the gloss to his eighth DP World Tour victory.
Asked how special it was, Rahm, who won this event in 2018 and 2019, said: "You might need to ask me in a few days because I take quite a while to process these things.
"It was the goal coming in; Seve is a great hero of mine and to do something he took his whole career to do in just a few years is quite humbling.
"It’s emotional. Going up the 18th hole I knew what was about to happen and to get it done like that, I can’t describe it.
"He (Seve) wasn’t really somebody I really thought of that much until I got better at golf, because obviously I wasn’t good until I was like 13 or 14 and when I started getting better, I learned a lot about him and what he did.
"I’ve spoken many times about how that 1997 Ryder Cup and Seve making the win that week, some friends of my dad’s started me playing golf otherwise who knows what else I’d be and I’m here because of that alone, and everything else is down to the path that he’s paved for so many of us."
On the support from his family, Rahm said: "My lowest round, my lowest score out here, it was pretty much a perfect week and the only thing that would make it better was if my wife and kids were here. It was the first one, the newest one with Eneko so I’m glad that’s it’s certainly after each kid that I’ve won a tournament, but I have a lot of family here I don’t see throughout the year."
europeantour.com..
edit Bryan Angus
No comments:
Post a Comment