John Rahm Wins his 1st Career Major

Life is a rollercoaster. Sports are a great example of not letting the high's be too high and the lows be too low. Over the past two weeks plus, John Rahm experienced both the ups and downs of a professional sports career, especially in the age of COVID. Rahm was firing on all cylinders at Muirfield during Jack's tournament. He carried a dominant six stroke lead heading into the final round and was rolling back into form during the peak time on the PGA tour. However, after 54 holes he was forced to withdraw from the tournament after testing positive for the virus. Just brutal on so many levels. The guy doesn't need the money but nobody likes to lose out on millions of dollars (I dont know what that feels like but I would assume so.) Not to mention he hadn't tasted victory in about 10 months. Tough luck for the Spaniard but boy would he rebound nicely.

Sunday at The U.S Open

Before this year's U.S Open Rahm's best finish in a major tournament was 4th at both the 2018 Masters and PGA Championship. Everybody knew he had the talent and that it was a question of when not if he would break through at one of the four major tournaments. His temper was always said to be the only thing holding him back and he has worked on that over the last few seasons. Entering the final round Rahm trailed leaders Louis Oosthuizen, Russell Henley, and Mackenzie Hughes by three strokes. The leaderboard had no shortage of excitement with former major champions contending all over the place. These players included Brooks Koepka, Bryson Dechambeau (The previous year's winner whom actually held the lead for a brief second,) and Rory Mcilroy who hasn't won a major since 2014. It was a tough road for Rahm but he came through. Let's run through how it was done by the former number 1 golfer in the world.

Rahm came out hot with birdies on the 1st and 2nd holes to begin his final round. That always helps to calm any nerves and give you some much needed confidence to get your round going although a player of his caliber is probably not too nervous. He'd finish heading out at -2 (-4 for the tournament). The leaderboard had 10 players within one stroke of the lead at one point but saw Dechambeau and Mcilroy falter on the back nine when it looked like it may have been one of their days. Rahm had a calm back nine paring holes 10-17. The drama came at the finishing two holes. Jon headed to the 17th one stroke back of Oosthuizen. He hit an ok approach shot to 25 feet. Every Major winner has to hit some putts and he nailed the long one for birdie, electrifying the course. Tied for the lead with Louis headed to his final hole, Rahm found himself at the beach in the fairway bunker. He chipped out to 18 feet and worked some magic on the greens one more time hitting another sliding putt for another bird. The fist pump he gave was Tiger-esque if I do say so. Rahm was left playing the waiting game as Louis had to finish up his round. One stoke back headed to 17th with a par five waiting at 18 f0r Oosthuizen. Misfortune struck as Louis hit his drive into the penalty area on 17th and bogeyed the hole. He could not miraculously hole out on the 18th for eagle and the trophy was Rahm's.

The first career major win could not have come at a sweeter time for the entire Rahm family. Rahm just welcomed his first son to the world with his wife Kelley and what a father's day present that is for him and his child Kepa. Can you imagine telling the story of how you won the U.S open on Father's Day to your child once he is old enough. Awesome stuff there. Rahm will now retain his #1 ranking when the next list comes out and will look to win back to back majors when he takes on Royal St. Georges next month at the Open Championship.