Jon Rahm shot a final-round 75 to win the Memorial Tournament and move to No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking on Sunday.
The Spaniard carried a four-shot lead into Round 4 and saw that edge grow to eight at the halfway point. At the time, he looked poised to cruise to the 10th professional win of his career as the rest of the field struggled through another difficult day at Muirfield Village.
But Rahm made things interesting by opening the back nine with a bogey followed by a double-bogey. His lead then shrank to three with three to play - the same advantage Justin Thomas let slip away last week at Muirfield.
On the par-3 16th, Rahm pulled off a miraculous chip-in to extend the lead to four. However, following his round, it was deemed Rahm unintentionally caused the ball to move prior to chipping in. Instead of carding a birdie, he was credited with a bogey in a score adjustment made after he won the tournament.
"I want everybody to hear it: It did move. It is a penalty," Rahm acknowledged afterward. "As hard it is to say for how great of a shot it was - as hard as it is to say that, I won't finish double digits under par. But it did move, so I'll accept the penalty, and it still doesn't change the outcome of the tournament. So I'm going to stay with that."
Rahm was forced to settle for a three-shot win over Ryan Palmer rather than a whopping five-stroke victory.
The 25-year-old is the fifth-youngest player to reach world No. 1, behind Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, and Justin Thomas. He's also the second Spaniard to become world No. 1 after Seve Ballesteros achieved the feat in 1986.
Rahm said when he was 13 or 14 years old, he told his coach "I'm going to be the best player in the world."
"Any time I can join my name to Spanish history or any kind of history, it's very unique," He added. "Seve is a very special player to all of us, and to be second to him, it's a true honor."
Here's the final top of the leaderboard:
| Place | Player | To Par | R4 Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jon Rahm | -9 | 75 |
| 2 | Ryan Palmer | -6 | 74 |
| 3 | Matt Fitzpatrick | -5 | 68 |
| T4 | Matt Wallace | -4 | 72 |
| T4 | Jason Day | -4 | 73 |
| T6 | Mackenzie Hughes | -3 | 72 |
| T6 | Henrik Norlander | -3 | 74 |
Matt Fitzpatrick's 68 was the only round in the 60s on Sunday. He vaulted 15 spots up the leaderboard to grab solo third.
Palmer and Canadian Mackenzie Hughes both secured spots in the 2020 U.S. Open with their top-10 results at Muirfield.
Tiger Woods closed with a 4-over 76 to finish in a tie for 40th in his first start since February.
The final-round scoring average was 75.96, the highest average round on the PGA Tour since Round 1 of the 2018 U.S. Open.
The Tour heads to Minnesota next week for the 3M Open, where Matthew Wolff is the defending champion.