US Open 2022: Jon Rahm squanders the lead with “six good strokes

For Jon Rahm, it’s all about defending his title this week at the US Open 2022. The 2021 Open winner is well in the running, alone in third place. But still on the 17th hole of his third round it looked like the leading position in the final. Rahm got bogged down on hole 18, and in an interview after the round he gives an insight into his view of the final hole.

Jon Rahm: “It was six good shots”.

With a one-stroke lead, Rahm went onto the 18th hole. The little drama already started on the tee shot, his ball did not hit the expected right turn, but landed in the left fairway bunker. From there, Rahm needed two shots at once, with shot two ending up in the greenside bunker. Rahm chipped the dug-in ball to the flag at just under 20 feet and needed two more putts. So a total of a double bogey brings him to a 71 – one over par for the moving day of the US Open 2022. Before that he holed another putt for birdie and the sole lead:

So much for the facts, but for Rahm this chaos railroad had many positives: The truth is, 18, it was six good shots. Unfortunately, it added up to 6, but it was all good swings. If anything, it was maybe a choice or a decision on the fairway bunker, but swings were good, so execution was proper. So I’m happy about that in that sense.

Regarding the bunker hits, Rahm continues when asked,  “I haven’t thought really about it. Quite frankly, it was a little dark, and it was hard to see. After I hit the shot, I realized the ball was a little bit deeper in the sand than I could really truly see.” He admits he misjudged the situation, “But I think I got maybe — tried to be a little too perfect with the shot. I had a 9-iron in hand. That’s plenty to get over that lip. Maybe I was trying to get too cute, making sure — looking for another birdie, where I could have just hit a 9-iron and hope it gets over the bunker and see what happens.”

Rahm goes into the final motivated

For the last day, the Spaniard wants to focus on himself and his game. “I can’t control what the guys ahead or behind me are doing,” the Spaniard said. ” I just have to focus on myself and my game and play my golf, shot by shot. Try to be as committed as possible to each shot, and that’s it.” Continuing, Rahm explained, “The second you get too caught up in what others are doing at a U.S. Open is when you start making bogeys and double-bogeys in a row. Yeah, exactly that. Just nothing special. Nothing that needs to change. Just, again, making decisions and executing.”