Spain's Rahm wins Mark McCormack Medal

R and A NEWS RELEASE
 Jon Rahm-Rodriguez of Spain is the winner of the Mark H McCormack Medal as the number one player in the 2015 World Amateur Golf Ranking™.

“I am honoured by this award and excited about the exemptions it brings,” said Rahm-Rodriguez, a rising senior at Arizona State University who will receive exemptions into the 2016 U.S. Open and The Open, provided he maintains his amateur status. “I also feel great pride in being the first Spanish golfer to receive this distinction.”

A first-team All-American, Rahm-Rodriguez contended in the US PGA Tour’s Waste Management Phoenix Open in February, tying for fifth place. His 12-under-par 272 score, highlighted by a third-round 66, left him three strokes behind champion Brooks Koepka.  

As a junior in 2014-15, Rahm-Rodriguez won four tournaments individually: the Bill Cullum Invitational, Duck Invitational, ASU Thunderbird Invitational and NCAA San Diego Regional. The 20-year-old also posted the third-best single-season stroke average in NCAA history (69.15) en route to the 2015 Ben Hogan Award, which recognises the top male college amateur golfer in the United States.

Rahm-Rodriguez also competed in the 2014 World Amateur Team Championship, where he set the individual 72-hole scoring record, previously held by Jack Nicklaus. His performance helped Spain to a third-place team finish in the Eisenhower Trophy. As a member of the European team, Rahm won 3½ points out of 4 at the 2014 Palmer Cup. In addition, he won the 2014 and 2015 Spanish Stroke Play Championships. He reached the quarter finals of last week’s U.S. Amateur Championship at Olympia Fields Country Club in Illinois.

This R andA and United States Golf Association (USGA) award is named after Mark H McCormack, who founded the sports marketing company IMG and was a great supporter of amateur golf.