Did Jon Rahm intentionally hit a shot backwards at the US Open 2023? Golfer’s unusual shot explored

Jon Rahm played an unusual round on the third day of the US Open 2023, carding two birdies and two bogeys to wrap up with a score of 70. While the other players struggled with their game in the bunker, Jon Rahm had a flawless escape strategy.

To keep the ball on the greens, he intentionally hit the ball backwards in the opposite direction of the hole. Morgan Pressel, an NBC analyst, commented on the shot:

"You hardly ever see it, the number of times a professional golfer is forced to play away from the hole. But that's a smart play, not being too aggressive because if he would have gone for that hole location, he would have been on the other side in the fescue."

Jon Rahm made a birdie on the first hole of the third round of the US Open. He finished with a score of 70 after making two birdies on the front nine and two bogeys on the back nine.

He tied for 38th place with Kevin Streelman, Sergio Garcia, Austin Eckroat, Sam Stevens, Tommy Fleetwood, and Andrew Putnam with a score of 2 over par.

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2023 US Open Round 3 leaderboard

Rickie Fowler and Wyndham Clark shared the lead after the third round of the US Open, each with a score of -10.

Rory McIlroy finished third, while Scottie Scheffler finished fourth with a score of -7. Harris English finished fifth, ahead of Dustin Johnson and Xander Schauffele.

Here is the 2023 US Open Round 3 leaderboard:

• T1 Rickie Fowler -10
• T1 Wyndham Clark -10
• 3 Rory McIlroy -9
• 4 Scottie Scheffler -7
• 5 Harris English -6
• T6 Dustin Johnson -5
• T6 Xander Schauffele -5
• 8 Ryutaro Nagano -4
• T9 Tom Kim -3
• T9 Bryson DeChambeau -3
• T9 Cameron Smith -3
• T12 Hideki Matsuyama -2
• T12 Viktor Hovland -2
• T12 Min Woo Lee -2
• T15 Patrick Cantlay -1
• T15 Padraig Harrington -1
• T15 Matt Fitzpatrick -1
• T15 Collin Morikawa -1
• T15 Tony Finau -2
• T20 Shane Lowry E
• T20 Russell Henley E
• T20 Cameron Young E
• T20 Tyrrell Hatton E
• T20 Brooks Koepka E
• T20 Joaquin Niemann E
• T20 Si Woo Kim E
• T20 Keith Mitchell E
• T20 Sam Burns E
• T20 Eric Cole E
• T20 Justin Suh E
• T20 Brian Harman E
• T32 Ryan Fox +1
• T32 Patrick Rodgers +1
• T32 Billy Horschel +1
• T32 Denny McCarthy +1
• T32 Gary Woodland +1
• T32 Dylan Wu +1
• T38 Jon Rahm +2
• T38 Tommy Fleetwood +2
• T38 Sam Stevens +2
• T38 Sergio Garcia +2
• T38 Kevin Streelman +2
• T38 Austin Eckroat +2
• T38 Andrew Putnam +2
• T45 Sahith Theegala +3
• T45 Charley Hoffman +3
• T45 Sebastián Muñoz +4
• T45 Nick Hardy +4
• T45 Sam Bennett +4
• T50 Jordan Smith +5
• T50 Gordon Sargent +5
• T50 Yuto Katsuragawa +5
• T50 Mackenzie Hughes +5
• T50 Ryan Gerard +5
• T55 Adam Hadwin +6
• T55 Abraham Ancer +6
• T55 Aldrich Potgieter +6
• T55 Romain Langasque +6
• T59 David Puig +7
• T59 Ben Carr +7
• T61 Maxwell Moldovan +8
• T61 Adam Svensson +8
• T61 Jacob Solomon +8
• 64 Patrick Reed +9
• 65 Ryo Ishikawa +10