Jon Rahm suffered "a lot of bad breaks" as PGA Tour hat-trick bid falls flat

Jon Rahm began the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open just two shots behind Sam Ryder, but it wasn't the Spaniard's day as he struggled to a 2-over 74.

Matt Chivers

29 Jan 2023

Jon Rahm suffered "a lot of bad breaks" as PGA Tour hat-trick bid falls flat — Jon Rahm suffered "a lot of bad breaks" as PGA Tour hat-trick bid falls…

When Jon Rahm carded a third-round score of 66 to get within two shots of Sam Ryder at the Farmers Insurance Open, there was a sense of inevitability ahead of the final round.

But things didn't play out the way we thought or the way Rahm would've hoped. He got some bad breaks on the South Course on Saturday, so perhaps you need luck as well as excellence to win on the PGA Tour three times in a row.

He played super golf in the final round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions, carding a 63 to reel in Collin Morikawa. He played solid golf on the last day of The American Express, edging rookie Davis Thompson by one shot on a tense afternoon in La Quinta.

"I got a lot of bad breaks today," Rahm said after the final round at Torrey Pines.

"It was just - feel like I made a lot of good swings today. Today feels like the first day I made a lot of good swings, they just didn't end up the way I wanted to.

"Today feels like the first day I made a lot of good swings, they just didn't end up the way I wanted to. One was a good swing, ends up long; 2 was a good swing, ends up short; 5, even the second shot out of the bunker wasn't bad, if it just stays in the rough I have an up-and-down chance, hits the cart path and goes to a dead spot.

"I mean, I can keep going for many of them that weren't bad swings. It's golf. I battled as hard as I could and the only thing that could have saved me was maybe making a couple of putts and I couldn't do that early on to get momentum going, right?

"Either way I knew it would be a tough day. I knew a couple under probably would have had a chance, but I just didn't have it."

Rahm also alluded to the pace of play in La Jolla, but not as a reason for failing to win for the fifth time in his last seven starts. He attributed the severity of the rough and the length of some holes as reasons for some slow play.

Just as Rahm has done on so many occasions, Max Homa grasped the moment on Saturday afternoon to win for the sixth time on Tour and for the second time this season.

It was still another solid showing from the Spaniard who recorded his fifth consecutive top-10 on the Tour. You feel it is only a matter of time until he returns to the World No.1 spot.

He hasn't entered the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-AM next week, but you can expect to see him tee it up at the WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale with its newfound status as an Elevated Event.