Jon Rahm wins third Spanish Open title to match Seve Ballesteros’ feat

Jon Rahm wins third Spanish Open title to match Seve Ballesteros’ feat

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Jon Rahm plays a shot
Rahm finished joint second in the BMW PGA Championship in his last tournament

Home favourite Jon Rahm became the first three-time winner of the Spanish Open since Seve Ballesteros 27 years ago with a dominant six-shot victory.

The former world number one only led by one stroke from Australia’s Min Woo Lee going into the final round in Madrid.

But the 27-year-old, who also won the tournament in 2018 and 2019, had eight birdies and an eagle in a superb final round of nine-under-par 62.

His nearest challenger was Frenchman Matthieu Pavon.

Lee had to settle for third on 18-under after a 68.

It was an emotional win for the 2021 US Open champion as he followed in the footsteps of Ballesteros, who won his national open in 1981, 1985 and 1995 but died in 2011.

Asked how special the victory was, Rahm told Sky Sports: “You might need to ask me in a few days because I take quite a while to process these things.

“It was the goal coming in; Seve 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.

“I understand it might not be the strongest field I play all year but sometimes these can be the hardest to win. 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 is hard to describe.

“It’s my lowest score out here, it was pretty much a perfect week. The only thing that would make it better is if my wife and kids were here, but I have a lot of family here that I don’t see throughout the year to celebrate with.

“It’s emotional. Going up the 18th hole I knew what was about to happen and to get it done like that, I can’t describe it.”

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