Jon Rahm’s Improbable Come From Behind Victory

By Kathlene Bissell | Jan 31, 2017

Jan 29, 2017; La Jolla, CA, USA; Jon Rahm speaks to the media following his win at the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament at Torrey Pines Municipal Golf Course - South Co. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports /

In the aftermath of his first PGA Tour win at Torrey Pines, Jon Rahm was incredibly open at the emotions he experienced throughout the final round.

It’s not often that a golfer tells what he was thinking on the way to a victory, but Jon Rahm did just that on Sunday. After sinking an incredible, 61-foot eagle putt, he overtook other contenders and won his first PGA Tour title by shooting a back nine that was 6-under par. But it was the long putt that garnered attention.

“I feel like the last six feet, I feel like they took about 35 minutes,” he said to assembled media. “The first part is almost a blur because you don’t realize it’s going in, but when I saw it tracking, I’m like, like everything stopped.”

It was the biggest moment in his career to date, but considering his life has already had a lot of highlights, it was not totally unexpected for him to find the winner’s circle.

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Rahm was on the Arizona State golf team coached most recently by Tim Mickelson, Phil Mickelson’s brother. There he won 11 collegiate tournaments, second in ASU golfing history only to Phil.

After becoming low amateur in the 2016 U.S. Open, and graduating from college (yes, graduating), he turned professional. His first event as a pro was the Quicken Loans National, and no doubt his collegiate record and winning the 2016 Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award, honoring the top player in college golf, were his tickets to an exemption there.

At Quicken Loans, he held or shared the lead for the first two rounds, only to falter on the weekend and finish third. But for a newcomer to the PGA Tour, it was an excellent start.

Shortly after, Rahm played the Canadian Open where his T-2 finish gave him enough money for a special temporary exemption on the PGA Tour. He eventually secured his PGA Tour card for 2017. But the loss in Canada revealed his competitive fire.

“I really don’t like finishing in second,” he said last Sunday about the Canadian loss. “I really said if we’re going to have the chance next time, you’re going to make that putt.”

Little did he know he would have not just another chance, but a miraculous chance. To secure the victory at Torrey Pines, Rahm’s 6-under par back nine included two eagles, culminating with the one at the last hole.

“It’s really hard to describe all that went on on that back nine, but starting on 10, you know, on that hole I probably hit three perfect shots exactly the way I wanted them and got a pretty bad lip-out. It really hurt, but that got me pretty aggressive,” he explained.

He eagled the 13th, reaching the green in two from a fairway bunker and making an 18½-footer. He admitted he thought about laying up there, but his caddie said, “Right at it all day,” so he hit the shot. He was so emotional during the back nine, he said, that he relaxed by drinking sips of water and telling himself he had to be calmer.

“Once I got to 17, and I hit that fairway, you know, I didn’t tell anybody but my mindset was we’re one shot behind,” he began. “We got to the fairway, perfect yardage. Hit a nice three-quarter fade 9-iron, tried to take spin off of it. It ended up being perfect. I couldn’t even plan that shot better.”

Again, more water, more calming thoughts. At the 18th, he focused on hitting the fairway, which he was able to do.

“Once I hit the fairway, I got the exact same thing, like I’ve got to stay aggressive, I’ve got to hit the green, we’ve got to make birdie,” he said, adding that his 5-wood went about 20 yards farther than he thought it would due to adrenaline.

He knew he had a good chance to win, but he needed help with the putt. Rahm turned to his caddie, Adam Hayes.

“Adam is an experienced caddie. The reason I have him on the bag, right? We got to the ball, and I told him, ‘You’re going to guide me through this putt. I’ve never seen it. You’ve got to tell me what’s going to happen,’” Rahm admitted.

Hayes told him he had to get the ball to the slope, and that the slope would take the ball to the hole.

“And once we decided the line, I hit it, and we all know what happened next,” Rahm added.

He noted that losing at Congressional in the Quicken Loans and the T-2 in Canada taught him that he could not wait for other players to fall back.

“Today I just started earlier. I tried to be really in control of my emotions and my thoughts and just make sure that I didn’t take anything for granted. I knew I had to go get it,” he said.

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Go get it he did. Rahm shot a 7-under 65 for the final round. It was outstanding golf, something he can think back on the next time he’s faced with a challenge in the final round. Instead of remembering coming up short, he can remember how he won.