Jon Rahm wins in stunning comeback at Sentry Tournament of Champions

SAN DIEGO – Jon Rahm would’ve been forgiven for not wanting to watch the final round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday but the Spanish star was indeed an interested television viewer from his COVID-19 isolation. The five-time PGA TOUR winner was odds-on to make it a sixth triumph when he fashioned a six-shot lead through 54 holes at Muirfield Village before a positive COVID test result forced his immediate withdrawal from the tournament. Instead of pout, or get angry, Rahm meditated and practiced mindful reading while keeping an eye on the Sunday showdown between Collin Morikawa and eventual winner Patrick Cantlay. Both shot 1 under on Sunday so theoretically defending champion Rahm would’ve had to play pretty poorly to not close the deal. “These are circumstances that happen in life, and they were still competing for the event, and I’m still a student and avid fan of the game, so, yeah, I was watching. To be honest, I was kind of wondering how close they were going to get to 18 under at the same time,” Rahm said with a cheeky sincerity from Torrey Pines. When first sent to isolation, Rahm faced the prospect of not being able to get to the U.S. Open site until the eve of the event but back-to-back negative test results on Friday and Saturday allowed him to break from containment a little earlier. In the meantime he’d flown on a private medical jet from Ohio to his home base in Arizona but had to keep clear of his newborn son and his parents who had flown from Spain to visit their grandchild. “I was a little bit scared because, even though I was feeling fine, I didn’t want to give the virus to anybody in my house. I didn’t want to possibly give it to our young son,” Rahm said. “The hardest part out of all this was for just over 10 days not being able to even spend any time with my little one. Adding to that… I wasn’t there when my parents met my son, and I hadn’t seen my parents in over a year, almost a year and a half. Those are the hard parts about this virus in life.” Rahm revealed that he had indeed been vaccinated for COVID-19 prior to the Memorial Tournament but was still in the 14-day window before one is considered fully vaccinated. While there were some calls for the Spaniard to be able to play on in Ohio, perhaps as an isolated single, the man himself says that would have been completely unfair. “To all the people criticizing the PGA TOUR, they shouldn’t. We are in a pandemic, and even though this virus has very different forms of attacking people, you never know what reaction you’re going to get,” Rahm said. “So the PGA TOUR did what they had to do. The CDC rules are there for a reason. There are players that missed the World Series last year. There are other athletes that have missed events. I’ve heard a lot of different theories: I should have played alone; that’s nonsense. The rules are there, and it’s clear.” And so his attention turns to Torrey Pines where he won the Farmers Insurance Open in 2017 and has gone T29-T5-2-T7 since on the venue. He was also engaged on the trails just north of the course and counts the area as one of the most special in his life. As the world No. 3, Rahm is the highest ranked player in the game without a major championship but enters the U.S. Open as the man to beat. “I still have the memory of all those great golf shots I played. I’m going to choose to remember that. I’ve been playing really good golf all year,” Rahm said. “Two weeks ago, it’s finally clicking all together like I was waiting for it to happen. Finally everything was firing on all cylinders. Not that I’m expecting to play that perfect again, but I know that I can play at a really high level. “I wish I was a little bit more prepared… but once you tee off Thursday, it doesn’t matter. You go do a job. Was it 13 years ago Tiger won on pretty much a broken knee without really being prepared? Once the gun goes off, it doesn’t matter. So in that sense, I’m still confident.”

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The Masters has a new date, but the amount of excitement remains unchanged. Tiger Woods is the defending champion after holding onto his Green Jacket for 19 months due to the impact of COVID-19 on the PGA TOUR schedule. A stout list of chasers will look to slip their arms into a Green Jacket, including reigning FedExCup champion Dustin Johnson, two-time FedExCup winner Rory McIlroy - who's looking to complete the career Grand Slam - and the most recent major winners, Bryson DeChambeau and Collin Morikawa. Morikawa is making his Masters debut. FIELD NOTES: Ninety-four golfers will tee it up at the Masters... The field for this edition was confirmed earlier in 2020, which means no one could earn their way in at the last minute or via his play through the Return to Golf... Twenty-six participants will be playing the Masters for the first time, including world No. 4 Morikawa and reigning PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year Scottie Scheffler... Reigning U.S. Amateur winner Andy Ogletree leads the six-golfer amateur contingent. John Augenstein, the runner-up to Ogletree at Pinehurst in 2019, also is in the field. Augenstein is No. 6 in the PGA TOUR University rankings. The top 5 after the NCAA Championship earn Korn Ferry Tour status. Augenstein can earn PGA TOUR U points at Augusta National ... Tiger Woods looks to become the first golfer in history to win the Masters in back-to-back years twice. Jack Nicklaus (1965-66) and Nick Faldo (1989-90) achieved the feat while Woods pulled the trick in 2001-02... Four Canadians will tee it up, led by 2003 winner Mike Weir - the most that country has ever had in the Masters... Phil Mickelson, who has won twice on PGA TOUR Champions in two starts since turning 50 this year, is looking to become the oldest major winner ever. Mickelson is one of 15 past champions in the field... DeChambeau is on the hunt for his second major in a row. The last man to win back-to-back majors was Jordan Spieth in 2015. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 600 FedExCup points. COURSE: Augusta National Golf Club, 7,475 yards, par 72. Spring's tradition unlike any other has morphed into a fall classic for 2020. That likely means fewer flowers at the former site of Fruitland Nurseries. From a golf course perspective, the Bobby Jones/Alistair McKenzie classic will likely play longer than it does in the spring, given the weather and the grass being much fresher versus April. According to many TOUR players who have been asked about the course over the last few months, there's an ongoing belief that Augusta National has resources to make November's conditions as similar to April as possible. There were no changes to the course for the 2020 edition of the tournament, but land continues to be purchased around the course for potential future efforts. STORYLINES: Rory McIlroy is gunning for the career Grand Slam once again after winning the 2014 Open Championship... There will be no patrons at Augusta National in 2020. That's not the only change for the first November edition of the Masters. Golfers will go off split tees and there will be a morning and afternoon wave... Jordan Spieth looks to quash his winless drought that dates back to the 2017 Open Championship at a place where he is very comfortable. The past FedExCup champion has a win, two seconds, and a third at Augusta National... Morikawa, Justin Thomas, and Dustin Johnson are among the large group of notables looking to notch their second major championship ... Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, and Tony Finau are amongst the group looking to capture their maiden majors. Schauffele has finished in the top-10 in six of the last 10 majors he's played... Woods is looking to tie Jack Nicklaus for the most Green Jackets of all time (six). He missed the cut at the U.S. Open earlier this season and finished T37 at the PGA Championship in August. 72-HOLE RECORD: 270, Tiger Woods (1997), Jordan Spieth (2015). 18-HOLE RECORD: 63, Nick Price (3rd round, 1986), Greg Norman (1st round, 1996) LAST TIME: Tiger Woods held off a strong leaderboard to win his fifth Green Jacket - and first major since 2008. A final-round 70 put Woods at 13 under, one shot ahead of Johnson, Schauffele, and Brooks Koepka. After several of his closest pursuers hit their tee shots into the water on the par-3 12th hole, Woods birdied Nos. 13, 15, and 16 to eventually pull ahead for good. Despite a bogey on the par-4 18th, it was all he needed to capture his 15th major title in his "return to glory." Woods was two shots back of the 54-hole lead held by Francesco Molinari, who shot 74 Sunday to finish T5 alongside Jason Day, Webb Simpson, and Finau, who was also in the final group Sunday with Woods and Molinari. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 1 p.m.-5:30 p.m. ET (ESPN), Saturday, 1 p.m.-5 p.m. (CBS), Sunday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. (CBS) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. ET, Saturday, 12 p.m.-5 p.m., Sunday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. (Sirius 208 and XM 92)

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