Jon Rahm had an Olympic gold medal practically around his neck Sunday, playing his best golf since he won the Masters a year ago and looking like a lock to finish his tough year in the biggest events with a signature moment.
He left Le Golf National with nothing but regrets.
Rahm walked off the 10th green with his sixth birdie of the round, his fifth straight one-putt green, leaving him four shots ahead of Tommy Fleetwood and Hideki Matsuyama, with Scottie Scheffler six shots behind and barely in his rearview mirror.
Then came a collapse no one saw coming.
He missed a meaningless par putt on the final hole for a 39 on the back nine, leaving him two shots from winning a bronze, four shots behind gold medalist Scheffler.
“I not only feel like I let myself down but to just not get it done for the whole country of Spain, it’s a lot more painful than I would like it to be,” Rahm said.
“I think by losing today, I’m getting a much deeper appreciation of what this tournament means to me than if I had won any medal,” he said. “I’m getting a taste of how much it really mattered. I’ve been very honored to represent Spain in many, many different events, and to not get this one done stings quite a bit.”
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It was stunning to see. He was in total control of his game. And then he wasn’t.
It started with a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-3 11th that he ran about 4 feet by the hole, and missed it coming back for his first bogey of the day. Fleetwood made birdie and the lead was down to two. Then, Rahm found a bunker off the tee at No. 12, missed the green and failed to save par from 15 feet away. Fleetwood made birdie again — another two-shot swing — and the lead was gone.
“The more I think about it, it’s just things that can happen in golf. It’s not like it was terrible,” Rahm said of the bogeys, though he also lamented six three-putts for the week.
But it only got worse.
The par-5 14th was where it all came undone, a double bogey on a hole that Rahm had played the previous three rounds with an eagle and two birdies.
He missed his tee shot to the left in rough so thick he had to lay up. He had 162 yards and hit an 8-iron to keep from going long on a back pin. But he turned it over left, off the green and into more thick rough. The first flop up the slope didn’t reach the green and rolled back down. The next one ran 4 feet by and he missed the putt.
“The main mistake is the third shot on 14,” he said. “Can’t go left of that green and ended up in a terrible lie. Ended up paying the price for compounding mistakes on that hole.”
He was trailing for the first time all day — from four shots ahead when he walked onto the 11th green to two shots behind and running out of time.
He still figured four 3s on his card the rest of the way would give him a chance to catch Scheffler, whose 62 beat the Olympic record by five shots for closing rounds by the winner. If not, perhaps Rahm could salvage a medal.
He missed a 10-foot birdie on the 15th. He missed an 8-foot par on the 17th. He missed out on a chance to reach the podium.
“The mistake was done early,” Rahm said. “I was 20 under on 11 tee and let it slip away. I did it myself. What it represents and what it could have been for Spain is what makes it more painful.”
And now it’s back to LIV Golf, leaving him eight months away from his chance to perform on another big stage, the Masters at Augusta National. Rahm left for the Saudi-funded rival league in December and did not win on LIV until last week.
He narrowly made the cut at the Masters. He missed the cut at the PGA Championship. He had to withdraw at the U.S. Open with a foot infection and he began to show his world-class form at the British Open, a tie for seventh although he was never in the mix.
“At one point between Friday and the front nine today, probably about as good as I’ve played since early last year,” he said. “So that’s a massive positive to think about going towards the end of the season in LIV. It’s too bad I couldn’t finish it off.”
