Jon Rahm returned to the clubhouse installed in first place at The Genesis Invitational tournament, at The Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California. The Basque, who had just finished third in Phoenix, hit the table at this new date on the PGA Tour that was already beginning.
Jon Rahm, results
The one from Barrika signed a card of 65 strokes, six under par. Provisional leader waiting for a good part of the players to conclude, including a rival as fierce as the new world number 1, an award that he linked to his triumph in Phoenix, the American Scottie Scheffler, who had not yet taken the field when Rahm already rested.
Also behind were such illustrious figures as the world number 2, the Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy, and a Tiger Woods back. Although the first to pass him was the American Max Horna with a 64 (-7). Rahm opened his participation with two consecutive birdies on holes 10 and 11, both par 4 and 5, respectively.
He took a small step back at 15 with the first of his two bogeys of the day, on a par 5. If he ended his first half with a -3, he completed the second, started from 1, with another -3. Regular. Eight birdies and two bogeys, positioning himself for the title fight for one more week.
He is on a roll, he has made five consecutive top-10s, leading the 2023 FedEx Cup. After the US Open, Jon Rahm joins the professional ranks which invalidates his qualification for the British Open 2016. In his first tournament as a professional, the Quicken Loans National, he is in the lead, alone or ex-æquo, during the first two laps, and finally finished third, four strokes behind winner Billy Hurley III.
This performance allows him to qualify again for the British Open, the Quicken Loans National being part of the qualifying tournaments. He finished 2nd in the RBC Canadian Open, securing special temporary PGA Tour membership for the remainder of the season.
He also earned enough points as a non-member to earn a PGA Tour card for the 2017 season. On January 29, 2017, he won the Farmers Insurance Open with a 60-foot putt for Eagle on the last hole. A few weeks later, he announced that he would also play on the PGA5 European Tour.
In March, he played the first World Golf Championships tournaments of his career, the WGC-Mexico Championship which he finished 3rd, then the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, a match-play tournament in which he finished 2nd, beaten in the final by the world number 1, the American Dustin Johnson.
He won his second title of the year, and the first on the European tour, at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open with 6 strokes ahead of the second.
