Charlotte (AFP) – Jon Rahm plans to quickly move past his painful collapse to lose the PGA Championship on Sunday, already talking with confidence about next month’s US Open. The two-time major winner from Spain suffered his most humbling major defeat, falling from a share of the lead and losing to top-ranked Scottie Scheffler at Quail Hollow.
“A lot of positive to take from this week,” Rahm said. “Pretty fresh wound right now, but there’s been a lot of good happening and a lot of positive feelings to take for the rest of the year.” Rahm, the 2021 US Open and 2023 Masters champion, opened with seven pars and was five strokes behind Scheffler but birdied three of the next four holes and grabbed a share of the lead only to stumble down the stretch with a bogey and two double bogeys on the final three holes.
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“I think it’s the first time I’ve been in position to win a major that close and haven’t done it,” Rahm said. “The only times I think I’ve been in the lead in a major on a Sunday, I’ve been able to close it out and this is a very different situation.” He was looking forward to going home and playing with his children. “Luckily I’m going to get home maybe on time to get the kids to bed,” he said. “To them, whatever I did today, win or lose, they don’t care. So that’s always a good perspective.”
Rahm has adopted a philosophy he credits to retired NBA star and TV commentator Charles Barkley. “I play golf for a living. It’s incredible. Am I embarrassed a little bit about how I finished today? Yeah. But I just need to get over it, get over myself. It’s not the end of the world. It’s not like I’m a doctor or a first responder, where somebody if they have a bad day, truly bad things happen. I’ll get over it. I’ll move on. There’s a lot more positive than negative to think about this week. I’m really happy I put myself in position and hopefully learn from this and give it another go in the US Open.”
Scheffler made birdies at 14 and 15 to stretch his lead while Rahm could not get birdie putts to fall hole after hole, leading to risky shots that failed at the finish. “It was really close,” Rahm said. “God, it has been a while since I had that much fun on a golf course (for) 15 holes. Even the first seven the day where I was swinging well and things weren’t happening, but I kept myself in and made the pars that I needed. The last three holes, it’s a tough pill to swallow.”
– ‘A bit of nerves’ –
Rahm said he felt his chances fading with birdie putt misses at 14 and 15. “If there was ever a time where it felt like it was slipping away to an extent, it was not birdieing 14 and 15,” he said. “That was definitely the mistake, before, obviously, finishing poorly.” Rahm also blamed nerves in the intense moment when a third different major title seemed within his grasp. “If there’s ever somebody that’s sitting right here that tells you nerves weren’t a part of it, they’re clearly lying,” Rahm said. “It’s the main thing we do as a professional sport. It’s controlling what goes through your mind. I think it was a bit of nerves. Can’t pinpoint exactly right now. I’ll go back to what happened. I didn’t feel like I rushed anything. I didn’t feel like the process was bad.”
© 2024 AFP
