Jon Rahm wins third Spanish Open Min Woo Lee finishes 3rd
Rahm wins by six shots to claim his third Spanish Open – photo Getty Images
Perhaps predictably, world number six and by some margin the highest ranked player in the field, Jon Rahm, has won his own national open for the third occasion and his 8th DP World Tour title with an emphatic six shot victory over Frenchman Matthieu Pavon in the acciona Open de España presented by Madrid.
Rahm had taken a one shot lead over Australian Min Woo Lee into the final round but by the turn he led by two over Lee and extended that lead to six with a final nine of 30.
Lee finished 3rd after a final round of 68 was not enough to hold off Pavon whose bogey free round of 65 earnt him his third runner-up finish on the DP World Tour.
Rahm matched his hero Seve Ballesteros’ three wins and in his post tournament media conference reflected on that accomplishment.
“You might have to ask me in a few days as I take quite a while to process these things, but it was the goal coming in,” said Rahm.
“You know, Seve (Ballesteros) is a great hero of mine and to do something he took his whole career to do in just a few years is quite humbling, I’m not going to lie. It might not be the strongest field I play all year but sometimes this could be the hardest to win, right? when I’m at home, I’m supposed to win, everybody is betting on me to win and to come out and play a Sunday like I just did it’s hard to describe.
“My lowest round, my lowest score out here, it was pretty much a perfect week and the only thing that would make it better was if my wife and kids were here. It was the first one, the newest one with Eneko so I’m glad that’s it’s certainly after each kid that I’ve won a tournament, but yeah, I have a lot of family here I don’t see throughout the year.
“I haven’t had time to process anything, it’s truly an honour. Seve was the winner of this, the Spanish player of the Spanish Open and to join him in just four attempts is very unique, and to beat his lowest scoring record on this course and to do it in this fashion, I don’t know how to describe it.
“It sometimes takes me a while to get off golf mode and competition mode right, but I’m almost at a loss for words. I’ve been able to join Seve on many lists in the history of this game, the Spanish history of this game, and this one could be the most meaningful.”
Lee made a jump to 62nd from 88th in the DP World Tour ranking and with the leading 50 gaining access to the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in five weeks’ time he is heading in the right direction to take him place in that field.
Maverick Antcliff was the only other Australian to make the weekend but finished well back in 62nd place.
