Page 19 - Golf Champion - July 2021

Torrey Pines delivered again. Seventy-second hole.
Birdie putt. A delirious crowd going wild for one of the
pre-championship favorites.
Thirteen years ago, it was Tiger Woods who delivered the
“Expect anything different” putt heard around the world.
On a cool, overcast Sunday in 2021, it was Jon Rahm
hammering home the most memorable 24-foot birdie
putt of his young career, one that gave the fiery Spaniard
a one-stroke victory over Louis Oosthuizen in the 121st
U.S. Open Championship.
Punctuating a 4-under-par 67 to match the championship’s
lowest round, the 26-year-old became the first player
from Spain to win any USGA championship. It also was
his second title on the South Course at Torrey Pines, a
venue he has grown to love. Torrey Pines was the site
of his first PGA Tour victory in 2017 and where he later
proposed to his college sweetheart, Kelley Cahill. It
has been a whirlwind two weeks for Rahm, who had to
withdraw from the Memorial Tournament with a six-
stroke 54-hole lead on June 5 due to a positive COVID-19
test.

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