The day Eugenio López-Chacarra won his first professional tournament, the LIV Golf in Bangkok, Jon Rahm did the same a few hours later at the Acciona Open de España, in Madrid. When the ‘Lion of Barrika’ was presented with the champion’s cup, during his speech before the public that populated the 18th hole of the Country Club, the Basque remembered the new national golf talent.
“Although many consider [the LIV players and the circuit] the enemy, on the other side of the world, a man from Madrid, Eugenio López-Chacarra, has just won a tournament against many of the best in the world.
Congratulations, Eugenio”, said the former number one in the world.
López-Chacarra, statements
Now, Eugenio has had the opportunity to congratulate Rahm on his victory yesterday in the DP World Tour final. López-Chacarra, commented on MARCA: “For me Jon Rahm is a magnificent person and they are all words of gratitude for what he said.
Everything he does for Spanish golf is something unique. I congratulate him on this latest victory in the final tournament of the European Tour. Myself I’m a fan of Jon Rahm; I’m a fan of golf and especially of Jon. When he has a chance of winning I’m there glued to the TV on Sundays.
He’s a reference for me to follow. Everything he does for Spanish golf and for this Sport is something unique and we have to be grateful. Congratulations from here, and continue to give us many successes, continue to give golf hard and hopefully one day I can be competing with you or against you in the coming years” Jon Rahm attended Arizona State University and won 11 university tournaments, second only to Phil Mickelson who earned 16 titles.
In 2015 he participated as an amateur in the Phoenix Open, finishing fifth. On April 1, he became first in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and stayed there for 25 weeks, then regained the position to hold it for another 35 weeks.
He thus qualified for the U.S. Open and the Open Championship of the following year: in the first of the two tournaments he finished twenty-third, then turned professional, simultaneously losing the right to play in the Open.
Quicken Loans National was his first professional event and he finished it third. The Canadian Open, on the other hand, saw him finish second. At the end of the season he obtained a card for the PGA Tour 2017. Rahm found his first success in the Farmers Insurance Open thanks to an eagle on the last hole, managing to enter the major tournaments on the world scene.
At the Mexico Championship, an event of the World Golf Championships series, he finished third, two shots from the winner Dustin Johnson, while in the second event, the Dell Technologies Match Play, he lost the final against Johnson himself [7].
He later won the Irish Open by six strokes and the final tournament of the European Tour season, the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, also winning the rookie of the year award.
