CNN
—
Spanish golfer Jon Rahm won his third PGA Tour title in six starts with a stunning comeback to overturn a seven-stroke deficit at the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.
The world No. 5 even bugged the first hole on Sunday, but rode a remarkable run to finish the final round with a 63 of 10 under par.
Rahm finished the tournament 27 under par to beat two-time major winner Collin Morikawa by two strokes.
Morikawa entered Sunday’s final round with a six-stroke lead over the chasing pack, but three bogeys on the back nine gave him a 72-under par and allowed Rahm to recover the deficit.
“I had to play well and he had to make a few mistakes,” Rahm said, according to the BBC.
“If you had told me at the start of the round after that bogey that I was going to do what I did, I don’t know if I would have believed you.”
It was the eighth PGA Tour victory of Rahm’s career and the 28-year-old will be the winner of the Tour’s first ‘designated’ event with a steep purse, introduced in a bid to compete with the rise of LIV Golf.
It’s the first of 17 events this season – including all four majors – that will have the designated event tag, with a total purse of $15 million and Rahm earning $2.7 million for his win. .
Most of the remaining designated tournaments will have total prize pools of at least $20 million, with the PLAYERS Championship offering an eye-watering prize pool of $25 million.
While Sunday turned out to be a fun day for Rahm, Morikawa was disappointed and frustrated with his last-lap performance, despite collecting $1.5 million for his second-place finish.
“You work so hard and you give yourself these opportunities,” said Morikawa, winner of the 2021 Open, according to the BBC.
“I just had three really bad swings at the wrong time. It’s never a good time to make a bad swing, but sometimes it works and it never worked.
“I don’t know what I’ll learn from this week, but I didn’t feel like it was that far. It really wasn’t. Yeah, that sucks.
