LostGolfBalls.com BLOG

Information and tips on everything golf ball related from the largest recycler of used golf balls in the world

The rock was rolling for Rahm

Read More →

Posts by Tag

see all
All Posts

The rock was rolling for Rahm

The rock was rolling for Rahm

It’s never over until it’s over.

It’s a cliché that has been uttered throughout time.

And it was proven true in the first PGA Tour event of 2023, the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions.

But let me give you some context. My son and his girlfriend were coming home by train on Sunday from a trip five hours away and I had agreed away to pick them up.

I was backing Viktor Hovland (Titleist Pro V1) or Justin Thomas (Titleist Pro V1x) to win the event. Normally before a tournament begins, I look at what happened in the last two years of it to see who has done well and check out betting sites to see who the experts like. Well, I didn’t look at the results of the last two Sentry Tournament of Champions and I didn’t look at enough sites.

Shame on me.

Jon Rahm (Callaway Chrome Soft X), who finished off the 2021-22 season strongly, blistered the course in the final round of the 2022 Sentry event with a seven-under par, losing by one stroke to Cameron Smith (Titleist Pro V1x). I was all over Rahm when he won the 2022 Mexico Open, thinking the event didn’t have a strong field and on pure talent he should win. He did. Rahm was a wise-guy/sharpy pick, which is to say the smart bettors were in on him, while the squares (the ones who don’t do enough homework, i.e. me) were looking away from him. The sharpies were also in on Collin Morikawa (TaylorMade TP5), who finished tied for fifth in the 2022 Sentry after carding a final round 11-under par.

So once I knew I made a mistake on Rahm, I started following him each day, maybe as a form of self-punishment. He was playing okay through the first three rounds but was seven back of Morikawa going into the final round. Morikawa entered the round with a six-stroke lead. While waiting for my son and girlfriend, I was repeatedly checking my smartphone to get updates on my two players. They weren’t making any headway, which is to say they both needed to go on a heater to have any hope of taking a run at Morikawa. They didn’t.

But Rahm started to make a move on the 13th hole, culminating in a 10-under par round. Morikawa, who had a seven-stroke lead at one point during the final round, started to fall apart on the 14th hole and finished the day with a score of one-under par. He ended up losing by two strokes. It was a fatal collapse, to be sure, for anyone who bet on him to win and figured they were home and cooled out at the start of the round. Well, that’s the way the ball bounces or, to in golf talk, the way the rock rolls.

I think the bettors who chose Morikawa were feeling his pain.

My pain centered around Rahm.

 
Perry Lefko
Perry Lefko
Perry Lefko is an award-winning writer who has published nine books, three of them bestsellers. He has been involved in sports writing for more than 35 years and has interviewed many superstar athletes. He lives in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada and enjoys watching golf and playing it.

Related Posts

Genesis Invitational Gives Us The Reality Of Sports

I’ve written this before and I’m repeating it because it never ceases to amaze me how televised sports is the ultimate reality show, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, as the now-defunct ABC Wild Word of Sports used as its intro. On the final hole of the Pebble Beach Open, Jacob Bridgeman (TaylorMade TP5x) was hitting a shot off of pebbles on the beach on the 18th hole. His ball ended up in the ocean and resulted in a bogey, tying him for eighth place when he was close enough starting the hole for a much better finish. I thought his spirits were crushed and dismissed him for the Genesis Invitational. So what does he do? Goes on a tear and headed into the final day, chasing a tournament record score. But he nearly frittered away the win, coming undone on the back half of the back nine and eking out a single stroke victory, and only because he parred a four-foot putt that must have seemed much longer because of the pressure. That’s drama, real drama, not manufactured reality. He won the event for the first time in his 66th tournament on the PGA Tour and only 65 days after marrying.

It's Time To Talk About Tiger Woods Again

Some thoughts on the world of golf with the Masters less than eight weeks away: When Tiger Woods (Bridgestone Tour B XS) speaks, we all listen. As the host of the Genesis Invitational this week, Woods held his annual address about his health, career, playing in the Masters and the PGA Tour at large. Woods is gradually returning to swinging his clubs from his latest back surgery last fall, which naturally had reporters asking him about his playing status. He did not specify when he will return to playing again, yet he tersely and emphatically did not rule out playing in the Masters. “No,” he said. Woods has always tried to play in the Masters, no matter his physical condition.

Chris Gotterup Making A Name For Himself

Who is Chris Gotterup (Bridgestone Tour B X), and why is he tearing it up early in the 2026 PGA Tour season? If you had asked golf fans heading into this year’s season, some may have known him and success he has had, but I don’t think there would be many who would say he was slated for a breakthrough season. But now the word is out: Not only is he a long-ball hitter off the tee and someone who can keep it in the fairway, but he also has a complete game and championship mettle. With two victories in only three tournaments in 2026, most recently last weekend beating two-time winner Hideki Matsuyama (Srixon Z-Star XV) in a playoff in the WM Phoenix Open, Gotterup is on a heater. Matsuyama, the tournament leader heading into the final round, was spraying his ball all over the course and was scrambling most of the day. Gotterup was quietly doing his own thing. In fact, while Scottie Scheffler (Titleist Pro V1) was making a serious run for the lead that just fell one shot short after a seven-under par, Gotterup was putting together a similar round. He had the tournament lead after round one with an eight-under par – Scheffler was just hoping to make the cut after opening two-under par – but shot one-under par in his next two rounds. Gotterup really turned it on in the final round. He was two-under after the front nine, but five-under on the back nine, including birdying five of the last six holes.