Jon Rahm wins after ‘hardest Sunday ever’

Since the beginning of 2017, Jon Rahm has enjoyed his fair share of victories.

His fifth arrived at his home Spanish Open at the weekend and, afterwards, he revealed that the pressure of the ‘favourite’ tag made it the hardest Sunday he’s endured in his short professional career to date.

On the final day in Madrid, Rahm overhauled Paul Dunne – who had led at the end of each of the first three rounds – with a five-under-par 67 to clinch his third European Tour title by two strokes.

With his girlfriend, parents and grandmother in attendance, as well as the backing of a vociferous home support, Rahm certainly felt the pressure but turned it on when it mattered most just a week after recording his best major finish of fourth at the Masters last week.

“It’s such a satisfying feeling,” he said. “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.

“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.”

Despite the win, Rahm remains at No.4 in the world behind Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth. Since the beginning of 2017, though, only Thomas has won more on the two main tours than Rahm – with both players now absolute locks to make their Ryder Cup debuts at Le Golf National in September.