CNN
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Spanish golfer Jon Rahm won his third PGA Tour title in six starts in a stunning comeback to overturn a seven-shot deficit at the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.
The world number 5 even bogeyed on Sunday’s first hole, but made a remarkable run to finish the final round with a 10-under-par 63.
Rahm finished the tournament 27 under par to beat two-time major winner Colin Morikawa by two shots.
Morikawa entered Sunday’s final round with a six-shot lead over the chasing pack, but three bogeys on the back nine gave him a one-under-par 72 and allowed Rahm to reclaim the deficit.
“I had to play well and he had to make some mistakes,” Rahm told the BBC.
“If you had told me at the beginning of the round after that bogey that I would do what I did, I don’t know if I would have believed you.”
It was the eighth PGA Tour win of Rahm’s career and the 28-year-old will go down as the winner of the Tour’s first “designated” event with an increased purse, introduced in a bid to compete with the rise of LIV Golf.
It is the first of 17 events this season – including the four majors – to have the assigned event label, with a total purse of $15 million and Rahm earning $2.7 million for his win.
Most of the remaining designated tournaments will have a total purse of at least $20 million, with the PLAYERS Championship having an eye-popping $25 million purse.
While Sunday proved to be a day of joy for Rahm, Morikawa remained disappointed and frustrated with his final round performance despite taking in $1.5 million for his second-place finish.
“You work so hard and you give yourself these opportunities,” said 2021 Open winner Morikawa, according to the BBC.
“I just made three bad swings, actually at the wrong times. It’s never a good time to put a bad swing on it, but sometimes it works and these never did.
“I don’t know what I’m going to learn this week, but it just didn’t seem that far off. It really wasn’t. Yeah, it sucks.”
