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Jon Rahm continued his good form at The American Express to secure his second title within a month. On Sunday afternoon, Rahm hit the final round of 4-under-68, besting rookie Davis Thompson by a margin of one stroke.
While the rankings might not show, Rahm is arguably the best player in the world right now and his performance speaks of that. The win at La Quinta was Rahm's fourth victory in his last six starts.
Thompson took the lead in the first three rounds. In fact, both him and Rahm were tied till the 15th hole, going neck to neck. Thompson failed to putt in a birdie for the rest of the game.
In Jon Rahm's own words, the turning point was the par-5 16th at PGA West’s Stadium Course when his second shot led the ball to drift towards an 18-foot bunker, but an unexpected bounce saved him and the ball landed on the green. From there, he hit a nine-footer birdie to take the lead.
Even before that, Rahm started with two birdies to cut the lead away from the American but a bogey on the par-4 13th tied both of them again.
Overall, in the final round, Jon Rahm putted five holes for birdies and one bogey for his second American Express title. Thompson, on the other hand, putted four birdies and a bogey to settle for the runner-up position in his first outing at La Quinta.
"Today was certainly a struggle" - Jon Rahm on his win at The American Express
After the game, Jon Rahm said his body was feeling great and that it was a heck of a start. He further stated that he was happy with his swing and that it was showing in the results as well.
Rahm said:
“Even when I'm saying I may not be as comfortable as I would like, I'm shooting 64s because everything is just firing when it needs to."
He, however, admitted that the final day was a struggle.
“I'm, in a weird way, glad that today went the way it went. I've enjoyed some runaway victories, I've enjoyed some comebacks, but today was certainly a struggle,” Rahm told NBC.
Thompson, who fell just short behind Jon Rahm, had a mad outing at La Quinta. With five eagles in his first 36 holes, the 23-year-old was very impressive in his first year.
"Competing against the best in the world is my dream and I did that today and proved that I can hang with 'em. It was a lot of fun. A lot of nerves and I hit a lot of quality golf shots under pressure, which was really cool," he said after the game.
Xander Schauffele and Chris Kirk tied for third with a score of 10-under 62 on Saturday. Schauffele was in 16th position before the final round but his impressive final round helped him finish third. He scored seven birdies and one eagle in the final round.
