From St. Andrews on down: Ranking every single Open venue

SAN DIEGO — Two career-changing putts for Jon Rahm brought two trophies Sunday. RELATED: Leaderboard | Winner’s Bag: Jon Rahm, U.S. Open He cradled his 3-month-old son, Kepa, as he walked off the 18th green at Torrey Pines on Father’s Day. And then he collected the silver U.S. Open trophy after a performance filled with passion and absent of blunders that wiped out everyone else. Rahm made a bending 25-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to catch Louis Oosthuizen. He buried another curling, left-to-right birdie putt from 18 feet on the final hole for a 4-under 67 and a one-shot victory. “Little man, you have no idea what this means right now,” Rahm said to his son on the practice range when he won. “You will soon enough.” The 26-year-old Rahm became the first Spaniard to win the U.S. Open, finally getting the major prize to go along with his enormous talent. On a back nine filled with double bogeys by so many contenders and a shocking meltdown by defending champion Bryson DeChambeau, Oosthuizen was the last to fall. Trailing by one shot, Oosthuizen drove into the canyon left of the 17th fairway for a bogey that left him two shots behind, and then he missed the fairway on the par-5 18th that kept him from going for the green for a look at eagle to force a playoff. He settled for a birdie and a 71. It was his second straight runner-up in a major, and his sixth silver medal since he won the Open Championship in 2010 at St. Andrews. Only two weeks ago, Rahm was on the cusp of another big win. He had a six-shot lead at the Memorial after 54 holes, only to be notified as he walked off the 18th green at Muirfield Village that he had a positive COVID-19 test and had to withdraw. Worse yet, his parents had flown in from Spain to see their new grandson, and Rahm was in self-isolation and couldn’t be there for a special moment. Sunday made up for it. His parents were at Torrey Pines to witness a world-class performance capped off by one of the great finishes in U.S. Open history. He earned 600 FedExCup points and moved up 17 spots to No. 2 in the FedExCup standings. Rahm finished at 5-under 278 for his sixth PGA TOUR victory. The first one was at Torrey Pines four years ago when he holed a 50-foot eagle putt on the 18th.

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It was the easiest difficult decision of Marc Leishman’s life. He had a huge desire to represent Australia in the Olympics five years ago. Doing so would put his wife’s health at risk, however. Audrey Leishman was still recovering from a bout of sepsis in 2015 that, according to doctors, gave her just a 5% chance of survival. Her immune system was still compromised over the next year-and-a-half. She was getting sick almost every other week. So, with the Zika virus wreaking havoc in the lead up to Rio de Janeiro, Marc Leishman knew he couldn’t board a plane to Brazil in good conscience. He couldn’t risk bringing Zika — or any foreign disease, for that matter — home to his wife. Plus, Audrey desperately wanted to add a third child to join sons Harvey and Ollie once she was fit enough to do so. “At that point I was sick all the time. I can’t even remember the amount of antibiotics I had to be on in that first year in particularly,” Audrey says. “It was hard because in that time I was still compromised and all I wanted was to try for another baby. “But the doctors all said I needed to recover and had to stop being sick every other week. Then, the Olympics come up and it is the opportunity of a lifetime for Marc and you don’t ever want to take that away from your partner. “So we talked it all through with each other and my doctors and unfortunately Marc pulling out became a decision that we just had to make.” Leishman called it a “no-brainer” once all the medical advice was presented to him. “It was an easy decision but still a tough one to make because you don’t want to give up any chance to represent your country,” Leishman said. “But at the end of the day there was just no way I was going to put Audrey at any further risk. Plus, we wanted another child one day and Zika was also a threat to that at the time.” The six-time PGA TOUR winner could only shake his head when it became apparent that the COVID-19 pandemic would postpone the 2020 Tokyo Games. What were the odds a virus could end his Olympic dream twice? But while the Games are a year behind – and will be done under health protocols and without spectators – the boy from Warrnambool will in fact become an Olympian, joining good friend Cameron Smith on the Australian team. The two paired to win this year’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans and finished second in the 2018 World Cup of Golf. Leishman had the same childhood dream as many growing up in Australia – to don the green and gold and represent his country. Whether it was in cricket, karate, tiddlywinks or triathlons, didn’t matter. Leishman was 9 years old when he watched Kieran Perkins become a national hero by winning gold in the 1,500-meter freestyle in the 1992 Barcelona Games. But as golf became the most obvious avenue for Leishman’s athletic talents, Leishman’s dreams of Olympic gold faded. Representing his country was always top of mind, however. So, when golf returned to the Olympics, Leishman was excited at the prospect of becoming an Olympian. Now he will be one. “I’m not getting any younger and while I’d like to think I can make the team again in 2024, and maybe even 2028, you never know how often this chance can come around,” Leishman, 37, says. “I’m excited about it. I’m pumped for the chance to play for my country. “It would be huge to win a medal. I’ve grown up wanting to win the majors – I didn’t think of the Olympics past a very young age because I wasn’t good enough at anything else – but to be able to have the chance now is awesome. “Golf in the Olympics is still new but it is already a very big deal. You could see how proud Justin Rose was and is of his gold medal and I’d feel the same way if I won one.” Audrey and the Leishmans’ three kids – daughter Eva was born in July 2017 — are really revved up to watch dad’s gold medal quest. They’ve ordered special Australian shirts and flags for the viewing parties they’ll have together. Harvey, already an accomplished junior golfer, is 9 years old. Unlike his father, however, he won’t have his eye on the 1500-meter freestyle. He will be watching what happens at Kasumigaseki Country Club, where his father will pursue the prize he dreamed about at the same age.

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ALBANY, Bahamas – The majority of the star-studded field is set for the 2018 Hero World Challenge, the invitation-only PGA TOUR event to be held Nov. 29-Dec. 2 at Albany, Bahamas for the fourth consecutive year. The 2018 Hero World Challenge field features players representing six different countries including four of the top five, and 16 of the top 23 players in the world. 2018 Hero World Challenge field: Name, Country Justin Rose, England Dustin Johnson, USA Justin Thomas, USA Bryson DeChambeau, USA Jon Rahm, Spain Rickie Fowler, USA Tommy Fleetwood, England Jason Day, Australia Xander Schauffele, USA Tiger Woods, USA – Tournament Host Tony Finau, USA Bubba Watson, USA Patrick Reed, USA Webb Simpson, USA Alex Noren, Sweden Hideki Matsuyama, Japan Two exemptions will be issued at a later date to round out the 18-player field. Live television coverage of the Hero World Challenge will be provided by Golf Channel during all four rounds and by NBC during the third and fourth rounds. Good-any-day grounds tickets and a limited number of premium hospitality packages for the Hero World Challenge are available for purchase here.  The TGR Foundation is the event’s primary charitable beneficiary, along with the Tavistock Foundation and Bahamas Youth Foundation.

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