Jon Rahm's Bid to Defend His U.S. Open Title Vanishes in Frustrating Sunday
BROOKLINE, Mass. — After his third bogey of the day dropped him to even par, the defending U.S. Open champion stomped off the 10th green. In his path was nine inches of metal and foam. He looked down, saw it and stomped on that, too. Jon Rahm couldn’t break par, but he did break NBC’s boom microphone.
It was an ugly Sunday for Rahm, 27, who opened the round in third place but shot 4 over par to finish the tournament at 1 over and a tie for 12th. After he hit a bad chip on No. 8, he took three more hacks at the grass. After he missed a putt on No. 12, he waved dismissively at the ball. After he made par on No. 17, he knocked his bag over; it fell partway into a bunker. Rahm can be emotional when he plays poorly, and he played poorly on Sunday.
He declined to speak to the assembled media in English but did speak briefly to SI.com’s Alex Miceli. Rahm admitted he was annoyed but said he never got close to doing damage to any of his own equipment.
“I’ve never broken a club,” he said, then added, “As a pro, at least. In a tournament.”
He said he did not have many answers for his performance. “I have to reflect on it later,” he said. “It was frustrating. I didn’t really have anything today. I couldn’t really get it going at any point. A couple of times I thought I made good swings and the result wasn’t even close to what I expected. A few times we got in trouble, but I felt like I could have limited it. I didn’t. I felt like the two bogeys on the front nine were very avoidable, and then the back is difficult. I just didn’t play good golf. It’s as simple as that.”
Nearly every club seemed to desert him at some point. It was an iron at No. 5, when he sent his approach over the green and into the second cut of rough. He made bogey. It was a wedge at No. 8, when he hit that bad chip shot. It was his driver on No. 10, when he put his tee shot in the left rough. And it was the putter almost all day. He gave the field nearly three strokes on the greens, and he needed 1.94 putts per hole — 35th overall.
“It's one of those days where I try my hardest like I always do,” Rahm said. “I just didn't have it. And I started making bogeys as everybody else was making birdies, and I got a little too far away.”
Indeed, the soundtrack of Rahm’s lousy day was cheers — for the pair playing behind him, Matthew Fitzpatrick and Will Zalatoris, who battled to within a few inches of a playoff before Fitzpatrick locked up his first major at 6 under par, seven strokes ahead of Rahm. A few times on Sunday, Rahm paused as he was leaving a green to watch their shots fall. He and playing partner Keegan Bradley, who as a Vermont native also drew his own applause, were delayed teeing off on No. 8 because Zalatoris almost made eagle on No. 7.
A year ago, at Torrey Pines, Rahm was the one making birdies as everybody else made bogeys. He entered Sunday in a three-way tie for sixth place, five strokes back of leaders Russell Henley, Mackenzie Hughes and Louis Oosthuizen. Henley shot 5 over on Sunday. Hughes shot 6 over. Oosthuizen shot even par. Rahm birdied No. 17 and No. 18 — the first player since Tom Watson in 1982 to win the U.S. Open with birdies on the last two holes.
Rahm insisted on Tuesday that being the defending champion would not change his mindset.
“There's no extra pressure,” he said. “I want to do it again. It's pretty much the same as it's always been, with the different factor being that I've already won a major, so I feel like a lot of the pressure I used to put on myself is not really there. I feel like I can enjoy it a little bit more and know that you don't need to do anything special to get it done.”
He did not do anything special Sunday. But he sure didn’t seem to enjoy it.
More U.S. Open Coverage From Morning Read:
> Collin Morikawa Finds Reason To Smile Again After Sunday’s 11-Shot Swing
> Matt Fitzpatrick Found Joy In the Suffering, and His Reward Is the U.S. Open Title
> Matt Fitzpatrick's First Major Triumph Wasn't the Only One Celebrated at the U.S. Open
> Why Matt Fitzpatrick’s U.S. Open Trophy Engraving Took So Long
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