Sunday, July 09, 2017

Rahm - the 'new' Seve - wins Irish Open by


 six strokes with 24 under par total


           Jon Rahm .. a meteoric rise from an amateur to top professional.
                             Picture by courtesy of Getty Images(c)


EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS
Jon Rahm marched to a maiden European Tour title in swashbuckling style at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by the Rory Foundation as the Spaniard put on a masterful display at the stunning Portstewart Golf Club to close out a six-shot victory with a 24-under-par total of 264.
The 22 year old prodigy - the "new" Seve Ballesteros? -  who was playing as an amateur on the US college circuit not all that long ago, was composure and confidence personified in front of the supportive Northern Irish fans and his round took off in spectacular fashion at the fourth, where he holed out for an eagle three to move two shots clear of the pack.
Six more birdies, as well as another eagle at the 14th, were enough to launch Rahm into an insurmountable lead and even two bogeys in the final three holes could not dampen his spirits on the rainy north coast of Northern Ireland as he carded a final round 65

The win moves Rahm back inside the top ten in the world and, following a majestic performance all week on a classic links course, he will surely enter The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in two weeks amongst the favourites.

Aberdeen's Richie Ramsay shared second place on 18 under 270 with Englishman Matt Southgate but they both left Northern Ireland with huge consolation prizes, the former earning a spot in the year’s third major in two weeks and the latter virtually securing his playing privileges on the European Tour for 2018.
Justin Rose finished his week with a four under 68 to share fourth, the Olympic champion joined on 17 under par by Scot David Drysdale (63) and New Zealand’s Ryan Fox (68) – both of whom also secured their place in The Open Championship – as well as Daniel Im of the USA.

Player Quotes:

Jon Rahm
“It's really hard to explain right now. I know the trophy is right next to me and my name is going to be there for ever now, but it seems hard to believe that it's happened.
“It's somewhat surreal. It's hard to explain. I just look at it and I see Nick Faldo, I see José Maria Olazábal, I see Nick Faldo again, I see Colin Montgomerie, Ian Woosnam, Seve. That's a list of the greatest European Tour players ever, and to have my name next to it, and the last one - Rory McIlroy – it's so special.
“Not just to win this event but to win it at the place I just won it, Portstewart – a great golf course – and with the fans supporting me better than I've ever seen anybody support me. It's been unbelievable.

“I've never played my best golf in a tournament before. To actually play my best golf and shoot 24-under on this golf course and win it by six - that is not something I would have believed I was capable of. I learned a lot about myself and what I'm capable of, and it's a really, really special day.”

Richie Ramsay
“I’m massively pleased. It was a tough last few weeks missing the cut in France but I hung around over the weekend and grinded and worked hard. I'm a big believer that if you work hard, success will come.

“This year, it's taken a little longer than it should do but I've managed to get there in the end. It was great to play and play to win. Jon was obviously playing some fantastic golf out there.

“So I needed to keep the foot down and make some birdies. I’m a little bit disappointed with the last hole but I played to the wind and that's a great focus out there and great belief in myself that I can actually go out there and chase down such a big tournament like the Irish Open.
“I knew there were spots for The Open but it had totally gone from my mind. I was that focused on what I was doing, which is great to have, but it's a massive bonus.”

Matthew Southgate
“I'm absolutely thrilled to bits. That's some of the best golf I’ve ever played today. I really stuck to it out there and I just made it so easy. I wasn't sweating over any par putts, and I've done my job as well as I could today. I'm really completely over the moon.
“I've driven the ball really well. And I've done some work with Titleist at the start of the year to just tweak my driver and we went a little bit longer in the shaft, which they were a bit sceptical about doing, but something I had done as an amateur.

“And the first ball I hit in Dubai with the new driver, I thought, wow, that's how I used to hit it. It's taken me a few months to get it bedded in but I feel confident with that at the minute.

“This afternoon, I've driven it as well as anyone can drive it. Just every single drive's come out completely neutral. There are not really many golf courses in the world that are that difficult, if you slap-bang it in the fairway, and I'm not a short hitter. So we've taken the course apart, really, with driver this week.”


FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72)
264 J Rahm (Spn) 65 67 67 65
270 M Southgate (Eng) 65 68 71 66, R Ramsay (Sco) 68 70 67 65
271 D Drysdale (Sco) 66 69 73 63, R Fox (NZ) 67 66 70 68, D Im (USA) 64 67 68 72, J Rose (Eng) 67 70 66 68
272 J Quesne (Fra) 70 68 64 70, B Hebert (Fra) 64 67 69 72
273 H Tanihara (Jpn) 70 65 66 72, T Fleetwood (Eng) 70 67 68 68, O Fisher (Eng) 65 68 70 70
274 B Dredge (Wales) 68 69 67 70
275 P Hanson (Swe) 68 71 66 70, H Matsuyama (Jpn) 67 68 72 68, P Uihlein (USA) 69 67 69 70, G Moynihan (Ire) 67 71 73 64, S Jamieson (Sco) 70 69 66 70, W Ormsby (Australia) 67 70 70 68
276 A Sullivan (Eng) 72 68 68 68, S Walker (Eng) 69 71 67 69, S Lowry (Ire) 68 71 71 66, A Chesters (Eng) 70 67 70 69, J Smith (Eng) 69 69 69 69, D Stewart (Sco) 67 72 72 65, S Hend (Australia) 71 68 64 73, A Wall (Eng) 67 68 71 70, A Otaegui (Spn) 68 69 68 71, A Dodt (Australia) 71 66 69 70
277 R Karlsson (Swe) 69 69 70 69, M Hoey (NIre) 68 72 70 67, L Slattery (Eng) 69 68 70 70, G Bourdy (Fra) 70 68 70 69, C Shinkwin (Eng) 68 70 68 71, F Zanotti (Par) 67 69 72 69
278 C Hanson (Eng) 70 70 72 66, M Armitage (Eng) 71 69 69 69, H Li (Chn) 68 70 70 70, H Porteous (SAf) 71 66 72 69, M Fraser (Aus) 71 67 69 71, S Gallacher (Sco) 67 69 72 70
279 M Jiménez (Spn) 69 70 73 67, E De La Riva (Spn) 70 70 72 67, M Pavon (Fra) 71 69 69 70, A Romero (Argentina) 68 71 70 70, I Poulter (Eng) 68 70 73 68, P Harrington (Ire) 68 69 71 71,
280 F Aguilar (Chile) 67 71 70 72, D Horsey (Eng) 67 69 78 66, P Peterson (USA) 67 67 71 75, M Manassero (Ita) 72 66 73 69, T Detry (Belgium) 70 68 70 72, T Olesen (Den) 71 69 73 67
281 J Luiten (Ned) 71 69 69 72, P Dunne (Ire) 67 69 74 71, R Karlberg (Swe) 68 70 72 71, M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 66 72 72 71
282 S Lee (SKor) 68 71 73 70, D Burmester (SAf) 70 67 74 71, N Kimsey (Eng) 72 68 70 72, R Langasque (Fra) 69 71 72 70 
283 S Kjeldsen (Den) 68 68 72 75, S Brazel (Australia) 70 70 71 72,
285 S Dyson (Eng) 68 72 75 70
 Withdrew: J Donaldson (Wal) 66 70 WD 


                                                             
                                                     RaceToDubai EULockup BluePink CMYK jpeg
 

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