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This week's winners and losers from the golf world

Reuters/Paul Childs

Winners:

Jon Rahm

There was a rules controversy with Rahm's ball placement at the par-3 6th on Sunday, but the Spaniard lapped the Irish Open field in record-setting fashion. The 22-year-old posted 24-under par for the tournament, winning by six shots over Richie Ramsay and Matthew Southgate, and now heads into the Open Championship with some confidence.

"If you had told me at the beginning of the week that I was going to win, I would have believed you because I always compete to win," Rahm told the Golf Channel. "But if you had told me I was going to shoot 24-under in this weather, and win by six, I would have probably said, 'You're crazy. Absolutely crazy.'"

Josh Pope

A year ago, West Virginia experienced torrential rain over a two-day period, washing out the Greenbrier Resort golf course. The flooding forced the PGA Tour to cancel the 2016 event, and gave golf course superintendent Josh Pope and his crew a tall task to restore the layout. After relentless work by Pope's team, The Old White TPC layout was praised by those in the field this week at The Greenbrier Classic.

“It pretty incredible, a testament to the crew to restore it,” Spencer Levin told Doug Smock of the Charleston Gazette-Mail. “It’s actually kind of better - the bunkers have been moved to better spots, more relevant spots, and the greens look great.”

The @gbrclassic has overcome a lot in one year.

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Atthaya Thitikul

The 14-year-old amateur won the Ladies European Thailand Championship on Sunday, becoming the youngest ever winner on the Ladies European Tour. Thitikul won by two shots, finishing at 5-under par for the tournament at Phoenix Gold Golf and Country Club in Chinburi.

"I did not think about the score. I committed to every shot I hit and stayed relaxed," Thitikul told ladieseuropeantour.com.

Losers:

Twitter

Rory McIlroy was the first to step back from social media this week, after his online feud with Steve Elkington during the U.S. Open at Erin Hills. On Sunday, Brittany Lincicome wrote on Twitter that she will be dark during the week of the U.S. Women's Open, after commenting on President Donald Trump possibly attending The Open at Trump National.

McIlroy's short game

The world No. 4 missed the cut at the Irish Open for the fourth time in the last five years of the tournament. McIlroy's problem was again with his short game, most notably his putter.

"I’m just not being very efficient with my scoring and that’s why I’m making it difficult for myself," the four-time major champion told Golf Digest. "Just need to tidy up the short game a little bit; I feel like the long game is there."

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)

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