When Jon Rahm made the flip to Le Golf Nationwide’s again 9 on Sunday, he appeared effectively on his solution to bringing a gold medal residence to his native Spain.
He shot a front-nine 31, a five-under par rating that helped him separate himself from the remainder of the sphere. One other birdie adopted on the par-4 tenth, and instantly, Rahm sat at 20-under par, holding a four-shot lead and in full command of the Olympics.
After which he three-putted, lacking a five-footer for par on the par-3 eleventh. He went on to fully unravel from there. Rahm bogeyed the twelfth after which made a multitude of issues on the par-5 14th, making a double bogey to drop all the best way again to 16-under and effectively out of the lead. He salvaged these blunders considerably with an extended birdie make on the par-3 sixteenth, which restored some hope for at the very least a medal, however back-to-back bogies on the ultimate two holes sealed his destiny. Rahm completed in a tie for fifth, a end result that appeared unimaginable for him when he stood on the eleventh tee.
“I don’t keep in mind the final time I performed a match, and I felt this—I don’t know what the phrase is—as a result of, you already know, I not solely really feel like I let myself down however not getting it executed for the entire nation of Spain is much more painful than I would love it to be,” Rahm mentioned after.
“I’ve gotten the query of ‘The place this match would rank for my part?’ or ‘What I’d suppose it will really feel wish to win,’ and I feel by dropping at present, I’m getting a a lot deeper appreciation of what this match means to me than if I had received any medal, proper? I’m getting a style of how a lot it actually mattered. I’ve been very honored to characterize Spain in lots of, many alternative occasions, and to not get this one executed stings fairly a bit.”
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Rahm then added {that a} “little bit” of every thing went mistaken for him down the stretch.
“Eleven and 12, to be trustworthy, the extra I give it some thought is simply issues that may occur in golf. It’s not prefer it was horrible,” Rahm mentioned.
“It was much more wind than we are able to really feel on 11; that’s why it went lengthy. Performed 5 lengthy and ended up being 10 lengthy. Hit a very good putt however misinterpret it. The three-putt scenario has been a problem the entire week. I feel I three-putted just about each day, and this isn’t one thing I’m used to. I feel I had three, 4, 5, six 3-putts for the week, and that’s manner too many.”
However Rahm mentioned the most important mistake of the day got here on the 14th, the place he made a seven.
“The principle mistake is the third shot on 14,” Rahm defined.
“As soon as I missed the green, which may occur as a result of it’s a troublesome tee shot to hit. However it was a very good layup, then I can’t do what I did on the third shot. Can’t go left. 8-iron, 162 meters, I imagine. Attempting to take lengthy out of play and figuring out that quick proper is okay. Yeah, can’t go left of that inexperienced, proper? I ended up in a horrible lie. Ended up paying the value for compounding errors on that gap.”
He then tried to get again into assault mode, figuring out that he wanted to make just a few threes over his last 4 holes to tie Scottie Scheffler, who lapped Rahm and others to grab the lead and finally win gold.
“It doesn’t really feel like I made that unhealthy of swings. It’s simply that tough of a golf course. It’s simply that straightforward,” Rahm added.
“On 18, it’s simply unlucky I couldn’t actually give myself a greater likelihood to take Hideki [Matsuyama] right into a playoff. The error was executed early. I used to be 20 yards away on 11 tee and let it slip away. I did it myself. What it represents and what it may have been for Spain is what makes it extra painful.”
Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By way of. You’ll want to try @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You possibly can comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko as effectively.
