BMW Championship: Jon Rahm shows guts this week

Jon Rahm easily could have given up on the BMW Championship after a bad opening round. However, he found something on the weekend that propelled him to the win.

Dustin Johnson has clearly been the talk of the FedEx Cup playoffs so far, and rightfully so. But if there’s been one other player who has been very hot the last two weeks, it has been Jon Rahm, who played quite well over the weekend to get himself into contention at the BMW Championship.

The week didn’t start so well for Rahm, as he struggled in Thursday’s opening round. He ended up shooting a 5-over par 75 and found himself eight shots off the lead.

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Friday’s round was some better, as Rahm shot 71, but he still trailed the leaders by six shots. Heading to Saturday, Rahm knew he needed to make up quite a bit of ground.

He was able to do just that, shooting a 4-under par 66, despite incurring a penalty for picking up his ball on a green before marking it. He found himself trailing leader Dustin Johnson by just three shots heading into the final round.

And what a final round it was.

Rahm got his round going early with a birdie on the par-5 first hole. He then parred the next two holes to remain at 1-under on his round.

On the fourth hole, Rahm drove his ball into the right rough, but was able to hit his second shot to about 12 feet of the cup. He ran in the birdie to get to 2-under on the day.

From there, he would par the next five holes to close his front nine with a 2-under par 33. He had fought his way back to even par with nine holes to play.

The back nine started just like the front, with Rahm recording a birdie, this one on the par-4 10th hole. After a par on 11, he birdied the 12th hole to get to 4-under on the day and 2-under for the tournament. At that point, he was right in the mix near the top of the leaderboard.

Rahm would par the 13th and 14th holes before another birdie, this one on the par-5 15th hole. That vaulted him into a tie for the lead.

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The Spaniard would take the lead on the 16th hole when he poured in a 30-foot birdie putt on the par three, giving him a 4-under par score for the tournament. He would par the 17th and 18th holes to shoot 64. But he would need a 66-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to hold off Johnson for his fifth PGA Tour victory.

Now, Rahm heads to East Lake for the Tour Championship, where he will be in a good spot to win his first FedEx Cup. And the way he is playing, he has to be considered one of the favorites going in.

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