Push Admin

Golf: Rahm powers to Kapalua victory as Morikawa collapses

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Spanish golf player Jon Rahm poses with the trophy after winning the Acciona Open de Espana (Spanish Golf Open) in Madrid, Spain, 09 October 2022. File photo. Luis Tejido, EPA-EFE" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/overseas/01/09/jon.jpg"/><figcaption>Spanish golf player Jon Rahm poses with the trophy after winning the Acciona Open de Espana (Spanish Golf Open) in Madrid, Spain, 09 October 2022. File photo. Luis Tejido, EPA-EFE</figcaption></figure></div>LOS ANGELES -- Jon Rahm fired nine birdies and an eagle in a 10-under par 63 on Sunday to surge past faltering Collin Morikawa and win the US PGA Tour Tournament of Champions by two strokes.Rahm trailed third-round leader Morikawa by nine after a bogey at the first hole, and two-time major winner Morikawa had pushed his six-shot overnight lead to seven after his third birdie of the day at the sixth.Spain&#x27;s Rahm, however, poured it on and Morikawa cracked, Rahm capturing his eighth US PGA Tour title with a 24-under par total of 265 on the par-73 Plantation Course at Kapalua in Hawaii.Morikawa, whose bogeys at the 14th, 15th and 16th were his first of the week, carded a one-under par 72 for 25-under 267.Rahm said he&#x27;d never have dreamed after his opening bogey he&#x27;d walk off the 72nd green with a three-shot lead.&quot;At that point it&#x27;s not like winning is really that in mind,&quot; he said.&quot;You&#x27;ve just got to get to work and start making birdies, and that&#x27;s what I did.&quot;He drained a 12-footer for birdie at the second, then birdied the fourth, fifth and sixth before punctuating his outward run with a birdie at the ninth.&quot;That stretch of four through six, birdying nine, allowed me to get into a rhythm,&quot; Rahm said.But the real push came later, when he picked up five strokes in four holes with birdies at the 12th, 13th and 14th and an eagle at the par-five 15th.The run started with a two-foot birdie at 12. After a 13-footer at 13 he tapped in at 14.After he rolled in an 11-foot eagle putt at 15 to get within one stroke of Morikawa, &quot;that&#x27;s when I started thinking about it,&quot; Rahm said.He couldn&#x27;t get a 10-foot birdie attempt to drop at 16, and he got a scare when he missed the green at 17 but got up and down for par before closing with a birdie at the par-five 18th.Morikawa couldn&#x27;t respond. &quot;Sadness,&quot; said the 25-year-old American, who was looking for his first victory since he won his second major title at the 2021 British Open at Royal St. George&#x27;s.&quot;It sucks,&quot; he said. &quot;You work so hard and you give yourself opportunities and just bad timing on bad shots and it kind of added up really quickly.&quot;Morikawa was in a greenside bunker at the 14th, made a poor shot out and was unable to make the 10-footer to save par. He needed four shots to reach the green at the par-five 15th and missed an eight-footer and made bogey from the fairway at 16.Morikawa said the result was more painful than his 2021 Hero World Challenge finish, where he took a five-shot lead into the final round with a chance to claim the number one ranking but ended up tied for fifth.&quot;I don&#x27;t know what I&#x27;m going to learn from this week,&quot; said Morikawa, who had appeared to be reaping the rewards of recent work with both a putting specialist and short-game coach. &quot;It just didn&#x27;t seem like it was that far off.&quot;<div>- Scheffler comes up short -</div>Rahm came away with the win a year after his scorching 33-under par total at Kapalua left him a stroke behind winner Cameron Smith, whose 34-under set a new record for the lowest 72-hole score in relation to par US PGA Tour history.He also scooped a $2.7 million winner&#x27;s prize from the $15 million purse -- boosted this year in the first of the PGA Tour&#x27;s &quot;elevated events&quot; for 2023 featuring increased purses and promises of top fields in response to the Saudi-funded LIV Golf League.World number two Scottie Scheffler missed a chance to supplant Rory McIlroy atop the world rankings.The reigning Masters champion needed to finish in a two-way tie for third or better and was in the vicinity early in the round.But his three-under par 70 left him tied for seventh on 21-under.Americans Tom Hoge and Max Homa shared third on 269, Hoge carding a 64 and Homa a 66.<div>© Agence France-Presse</div>

Jon Rahm fired nine birdies and an eagle in a 10-under par 63 on Sunday to win the US PGA Tour Tournament of Champions by two strokes.