Jon Rahm cards final-round 62 in Madrid to secure third Spanish Open title

Spain’s Jon Rahm cruised to a 3rd Spanish Open title to match the tally of his “nice hero”, Seve Ballesteros.

Rahm carded an eagle and eight birdies in a closing 62 at Membership de Campo in Madrid to complete 25 below par, six pictures away from France’s Matthieu Pavon.

Ballesteros, who died in 2011, received his nationwide open in 1981, 1985 and 1995 and Rahm had been a prohibitive favorite to emulate his compatriot, however the 2021 US Open champion totally justified that standing in entrance of an adoring house crowd.

We'd like your consent to load this Social Media content material

We use a lot of completely different Social Media shops to handle additional content material that may set cookies in your system and accumulate knowledge about your exercise. Please evaluate their particulars and settle for them to load the content material.

Requested how particular the victory was, Rahm advised Sky Sports activities: “You would possibly must ask me in just a few days as a result of I take fairly some time to course of this stuff.

“It was the objective coming in; Seve is a good hero of mine and to do one thing he took his entire profession to do in only a few years is kind of humbling, I’m not going to lie.

“I perceive it may not be the strongest subject I play all yr however typically these might be the toughest to win. I’m at house, I’m speculated to win, everyone is betting on me to win and to come back out and play a Sunday like I simply did is difficult to explain.

“It’s my lowest rating out right here, it was just about an ideal week. The one factor that will make it higher is that if my spouse and children have been right here however I've plenty of household right here that I don’t see all year long to have fun with.

“It’s emotional. Going up the 18th gap I knew what was about to occur and to get it executed like that, I can’t describe it.”

Jon Rahm tees off on the fifth gap on his method to successful the Spanish Open (Manu Fernandez/AP)

Rahm took a one-shot lead into the ultimate spherical and shortly doubled his benefit with a birdie on the second, earlier than selecting up additional pictures on the sixth and seventh.

Taking part in accomplice Min Woo Lee stored up the strain and closed to inside a shot due to a birdie on the sixth and an eagle on the par-five seventh, just for Rahm to drag away with birdies on the ninth and eleventh.

A bogey on the twelfth briefly halted Rahm’s momentum however he responded with a birdie on the following after which virtually made an albatross on the par-five 14th, his strategy from 208 yards hitting the pin and ending simply 5 toes from the opening.

We'd like your consent to load this Social Media content material

We use a lot of completely different Social Media shops to handle additional content material that may set cookies in your system and accumulate knowledge about your exercise. Please evaluate their particulars and settle for them to load the content material.

The ensuing eagle put the consequence past any doubt and Rahm signed off in type with birdies on the seventeenth and 18th, whereas Pavon’s flawless closing 65 secured his third runners-up end on the DP World Tour.

Lee completed a shot behind Pavon in third, with Ryder Cup vice-captain Edoardo Molinari and Zander Lombard two strokes additional again in a tie for fourth.

Rahm’s win will take the 27-year-old from sixth to fifth on this planet rankings.