Published July 17, 2008 on April 16, 2018

Rahm Victorious on Home Soil at Open de España

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Home hero Jon Rahm delighted the huge crowds at Centro Nacional de Golf as he became the sixth Spanish player to win the Open de España.

The World Number Four, who has moved to fifth in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex, carded a closing 67 to get to 20 under and hold off the challenge of countryman Nacho Elvira and overnight leader Paul Dunne for his third European Tour title.

His three wins have come in just 19 events on the European Tour, making him the third-fastest player to reach that mark, and he joins countrymen Antonio Garrido, Seve Ballesteros, Sergio Garcia, Alvaro Quiros and Miguel Ángel Jiménez as Spanish winners of the event since it joined the European Tour in 1972.

The victory is Rahm’s first as a professional in his homeland after claiming seven national individual amateur titles at various age levels and adds to his two Rolex Series triumphs in Ireland and Dubai last season.

Rahm said, “It’s such a satisfying feeling. When I made the decision to come straight from Augusta, it wouldn’t be to just show up and walk around, I wanted to win this tournament.

“I’ve been blessed to be national champion from 16 to all ages in Spain. To round my amateur and pro career together in this way and win the last one I had to win and join that prestigious list of Spanish winners, it’s hard to explain how good it feels and how satisfying it is.

“That putt on 13 was very important. The up-and-down on 17, I believe that ball staying up out of the hazard was very important. Hitting the drive I hit on 18, I hit a nine iron to that par five. Once I hit it on the fairway I knew the birdie was going to happen but it would not have been set up if it was not for that shot on 17. Lady Luck played a part in this one in that ball staying up and then being able to make the four-footer.

“It’s been amazing. It’s truly been the hardest Sunday I’ve ever had in any tournament that I’ve won because the crowd wanted it so much and I wanted it so much. You can tell how excited everybody is, I felt that tension, I felt that stress, I felt everything magnified. They played a huge part, I came for them mainly so I’m just glad I can win this one for the Spanish people.”

Irishman Dunne signed for a closing 71 to finish at 18 under, a shot clear of Elvira and two ahead of South Africa’s George Coetzee.

“I’m a little disappointed but Spain has a great champion in Jon and I’m sure he’ll win many more of these,” said Dunne.

Spaniard Jorge Campillo and Scot Marc Warren carded closing rounds of 69 to finish at 15 under alongside Australian Brett Rumford, who finished with a 71, and Swede Henric Sturehed who shot a 72.

Frenchman Julien Guerrier, South African Jacques Kruyswijk, and Japan’s Hideto Tanihara finished six shots off the lead. Malaysia’s Gavin Green posted rounds of 71-68-71-70 for total280 to finish in joint 46^thposition.

 

Final Scores

268 J Rahm (Esp) 67 68 66 67,
270 P Dunne (Irl) 66 65 68 71,
271 N Elvira (Esp) 68 66 66 71,
272 G Coetzee (RSA) 72 66 71 63,
273 M Warren (Sco) 66 69 69 69, H Sturehed (Swe) 67 68 66 72, J Campillo (Esp) 70 67 67 69, B Rumford (Aus) 68 66 68 71,
274 H Tanihara (Jpn) 70 70 67 67, J Guerrier (Fra) 67 69 74 64, J Kruyswijk (RSA) 69 70 66 69,
275 A Johnston (Eng) 68 68 69 70, R Cho (Kor) 73 64 73 65, A Otaegui (Esp) 69 70 70 66, Y Miyazato (Jpn) 69 68 72 66, A Cañizares (Esp) 72 67 70 66, S Gros (Fra) 73 67 71 64, A Rai (Eng) 67 71 66 71, M Kieffer (Ger) 69 67 69 70, V Pastor (am) (Esp) 67 72 69 67,
276 A Sullivan (Eng) 75 63 65 73, P Larrazábal (Esp) 71 65 73 67, A Pavan (Ita) 71 67 72 66, R Paratore (Ita) 70 70 68 68, E Van Rooyen (RSA) 67 71 70 68, T Pulkkanen (Fin) 75 65 69 67, S Han (USA) 70 69 68 69,
277 C Shinkwin (Eng) 67 67 72 71, N Colsaerts (Bel) 71 67 71 68, F Aguilar (Chi) 72 66 70 69, M Schwab (Aut) 67 71 69 70, C Bezuidenhout (RSA) 69 71 71 66, R Rock (Eng) 70 65 71 71,
278 J Winther (Den) 69 67 71 71, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 69 68 73 68, A Wu (Chn) 70 70 67 71, R Sterne (RSA) 68 70 72 68, N Bertasio (Ita) 69 70 70 69,
279 B Stone (RSA) 71 67 72 69, D Howell (Eng) 72 66 72 69, J Thomson (Eng) 67 71 69 72, A Björk (Swe) 67 72 68 72, M Manassero (Ita) 69 71 70 69, P Oriol (Esp) 68 71 67 73, S Del Val (Esp) 74 65 68 72,
280 G Green (Mas) 71 68 71 70, S Kim (USA) 69 68 73 70, G Bourdy (Fra) 70 67 71 72, P Angles (Esp) 72 66 69 73, M Fraser (Aus) 71 66 71 72, T Olesen (Den) 68 68 72 72,
281 A Wall (Eng) 70 70 69 72, S Gallacher (Sco) 70 70 71 70, M Baldwin (Eng) 70 69 71 71, R Gouveia (Por) 69 70 72 70, B Dredge (Wal) 71 68 70 72, S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) 69 71 73 68,
282 M Schneider (Ger) 76 63 72 71, J Norris (Aus) 67 71 70 74, D Fichardt (RSA) 69 71 70 72, J Choi (Kor) 70 69 70 73, B Neil (Sco) 71 66 68 77,
283 T Murray (Eng) 72 67 73 71, A Connelly (Can) 72 66 71 74, C Ford (Eng) 70 69 68 76, P Waring (Eng) 68 72 76 67,
284 J Dantorp (Swe) 73 67 74 70, G Storm (Eng) 70 70 73 71, T Fisher Jnr (RSA) 68 72 72 72, D Lipsky (USA) 69 71 75 69,
285 D Burmester (RSA) 73 65 71 76,
286 R Ramsay (Sco) 73 66 72 75,
287 T Jaidee (Tha) 72 67 77 71, J Scrivener (Aus) 70 69 75 73,
141 D Drysdale (Sco) 73 68 0 0, S Jamieson (Sco) 69 72 0 0, R Cabrera Bello (Esp) 73 68 0 0, M Foster (Eng) 72 69 0 0, S Fernandez (Esp) 71 70 0 0, A Quiros (Esp) 70 71 0 0, P Widegren (Swe) 71 70 0 0, S Brown (Eng) 70 71 0 0, P Lawrie (Sco) 76 65 0 0, A Arnaus (Esp) 71 70 0 0, S Kjeldsen (Den) 69 72 0 0, E Goya (Arg) 72 69 0 0, F Zanotti (Par) 74 67 0 0, M Pavon (Fra) 73 68 0 0, S Heisele (Ger) 68 73 0 0, J Colomo (Esp) 71 70 0 0, L Gagli (Ita) 70 71 0 0,
142 C Syme (Sco) 70 72 0 0, C Hanson (Eng) 73 69 0 0, O Fisher (Eng) 72 70 0 0, M Kinhult (Swe) 73 69 0 0, J Quesne (Fra) 70 72 0 0, J Donaldson (Wal) 71 71 0 0, S Tarrio Ben (Esp) 72 70 0 0, C Blomstrand (Swe) 73 69 0 0, L Canter (Eng) 71 71 0 0, N Geyger (Chi) 73 69 0 0, E Molinari (Ita) 72 70 0 0, E Pepperell (Eng) 77 65 0 0, T Detry (Bel) 71 71 0 0, J Smith (Eng) 72 70 0 0, R Fox (Nzl) 70 72 0 0, J Heath (Eng) 71 71 0 0, B McKenzie (am) (Eng) 72 70 0 0,
143 J Sainz (Esp) 74 69 0 0, D Im (USA) 75 68 0 0, A Saddier (Fra) 71 72 0 0, S Horsfield (Eng) 69 74 0 0, N Cullen (Aus) 72 71 0 0, A Bland (Aus) 71 72 0 0, B Evans (Eng) 71 72 0 0, M Nixon (Eng) 74 69 0 0, E De La Riva (Esp) 72 71 0 0, G Fernandez – Castaño (Esp) 73 70 0 0, J Wang (Kor) 73 70 0 0, G Havret (Fra) 72 71 0 0, R Jacquelin (Fra) 71 72 0 0, A Hidalgo (am) (Esp) 72 71 0 0,
144 B Hafthorsson (Isl) 77 67 0 0, T Aiken (RSA) 75 69 0 0, C Koepka (USA) 75 69 0 0, P Khongwatmai (Tha) 76 68 0 0, A Dodt (Aus) 71 73 0 0, R Bland (Eng) 72 72 0 0,
145 R McGowan (Eng) 76 69 0 0, D Horsey (Eng) 72 73 0 0, M Wallace (Eng) 69 76 0 0, T Lewis (Eng) 72 73 0 0, A Del Rey(am) (Esp) 75 70 0 0,
146 L Jensen (Den) 74 72 0 0, M Korhonen (Fin) 76 70 0 0, A Chesters (Eng) 75 71 0 0, O Farr (Wal) 72 74 0 0, G Moynihan (Irl) 72 74 0 0, V Dubuisson (Fra) 74 72 0 0, J Lagergren (Swe) 74 72 0 0, J Morrison (Eng) 74 72 0 0, J Geary (Nzl) 74 72 0 0, N Fasth (Swe) 78 68 0 0,
147 F Fritsch (Ger) 70 77 0 0, D Brooks (Eng) 74 73 0 0, D Kataoka (Jpn) 71 76 0 0,
148 Z Lombard (RSA) 72 76 0 0, A Garcia-Heredia (Esp) 72 76 0 0, S Lee (Kor) 71 77 0 0, C Pigem (Esp) 71 77 0 0, L Slattery (Eng) 72 76 0 0,
149 C Sordet (Fra) 73 76 0 0,
150 R Karlsson (Swe) 78 72 0 0, R Evans (Eng) 70 80 0 0,
152 R McEvoy (Eng) 75 77 0 0,
157 J Gonzalez Courtney (Esp) 83 74 0 0,