Jon Rahm has the luxury of a 4 shot lead heading into Sunday's final round at this COVID quiet Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village thanks to his -4 68 on a Saturday when scoring stalled on the lightning fast crusty greens at Jack's place.
With a blustery, hot 93*F Sunday in the forecast https://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/the-memorial-tournament-presented-by-nationwide/weather.html with the winds expected to pick up to 18mph SW, rock hard fairways and thick rough, scoring is bound to be at a premium.
All day long Brendon Todd's 68 was the low score, until the big Spaniard matched it late in the day, they were the only two to break 70, the field's scoring average was 73.7. With a win he will surpass Rory McIlroy as the world #1 unless Rory finishes 2nd.
Rahm is at -12, four clear of front runner Tony Finau (73) who played the last 7 holes in +4, Ryan Palmer (73) and a whopping 6 ahead of Danny Willett (70). Local boy Jason Day (72) is at -5.
Rahm had this to say " Four shots on a windy difficult firm course is nothing. It's me making 2 bogey's and someone making a birdie then suddenly the lead is gone.
Whatever happens tomorrow happens, but it will be a great test for me to learn for the future, for major championships because this course is going to be the closest thing we get to a major without being one"
He may have added without any spectators. TV and it's plethora of talking heads tends to play down the fact the course is empty, completely empty.
Also being the only Spaniard since Seve Ballesteros to be world #1 is a huge deal to Rahm who credits Seve's captaincy at the 1997 Ryder Cup at Valderamma as the inspiration for him being the player he is today. Seve is of course a legend in European golf
Tiger Woods T37 +2, Rory McIlroy T12 -2, Jordan Spieth T12 -2...
As for the Canadians, Mac Hughes is T10 after a gutsy 73 left him at -3, Adam Hadwin sunk a 35 footer for birdie at the first, added 2 more on the back nine, and added a terrific 14 pars with just 1 bogey in one of the best rounds of the day, -2 70 and he is T24 E.
Corey Connors is T45 +3 after a E 72.
Sunday tee times and pairings: https://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/the-memorial-tournament-presented-by-nationwide/tee-times.html
Play begins at 8.25 Sunday morning with Rahm and Palmer off at 2.35pm
Bryan Angus
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