olympics
From near gold to missing a medal, Jon Rahm’s late stumble at the Olympics ‘stings’
Kevin C. Cox
Jon Rahm was on top of the world. The two-time major champion was six under par after 10 holes Sunday during the final round of the Olympics at Le Golf National outside Paris and held a four-shot lead. There really were no close pursuers.
Xander Schauffele, co-leader with Rahm at the start of the round, was only one under on the day and not playing particularly well. Tommy Fleetwood was playing well, but seemingly had too much ground to cover. Hideki Matsuyama, Rory McIlroy and France’s Victor Perez were there too. But again, not close.
Then it happened. Rahm's game suddenly collapsed, as he played the next four holes in four over par. He three-putted the 11th hole from 32 feet and failed to get up and down for par on 12. But the real nightmare happened with a double bogey on the par-5 14th hole after he short-sided himself on his third shot, then didn’t get his chip shot onto the green, leaving it short to roll back down the hill. He walked away with a 7.
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All of this came when Scottie Scheffler, who was six shots back, was in the midst of a back-nine 29. Fleetwood made two quick birdies on 11 and 12 and Perez played a five-hole stretch in six under par.
Late in the round it was clear Rahm wasn’t going to capture gold, but a medal was still within reach until he bogeyed each of the final two holes to shoot one-under 70 and tie for fifth place with McIlroy. He ended four shots behind Scheffler and two shots out of third place where Matsuyama took home the bronze medal.
“I don't remember the last time I played a tournament and I felt this … I don't know what the word is because, you know, 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've gotten the question, where this tournament would rank in my opinion or what I would think it would feel like to win, and 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, right.
“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.”
The Spaniard won the LIV Golf event last week in the United Kingdom, his first victory anywhere since winning the Masters in 2023. He opened with 67-66-66 in Paris and was in control until that fateful stretch.
“The three-putt situation has been an issue the whole week,” he said. “I think I three-putted pretty much every day and this is not something I'm used to. I think I had three, four, five, six three-putts for the week and that's way too many.
"The main mistake is the third shot on 14. Once I missed the fairway, which can't happen because it's a tough tee shot to hit … it was a good lay up, I can't do what I did on the third shot.”
Takeaways on the week?
“Maybe a little too early to think about that right now. Played in really good golf. 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. I would have liked it play that good earlier in the year but it's nice to on a fourth week in a row to putt up that performance. It's too bad I couldn't finish it off."
