Rahm rides ace to outright lead at Memorial Tournament

DUBLIN, Ohio – Jon Rahm’s storied history with the 16th hole at Muirfield Village continued Saturday morning as the defending Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide champion made a stunning ace to surge into the outright lead.

The Spanish superstar slotted the ball home on the iconic par-3 with an 8-iron from 183 yards a year after he chipped in from greenside rough on Sunday only to be penalized two shots for being deemed to make his ball move prior to his swing.

The penalty in 2020 ended up being inconsequential as he held on for victory over the final two holes although Saturday’s shot still felt like a bit of retribution for the five-time PGA TOUR winner.

“I told Adam (caddy), I was walking down after I picked up the ball, I'm, like, well, that is some good karma and payback from last year,” Rahm joked.

“It was just one of those good numbers. It helped to see Xander's shot because I knew if I pulled the 8-iron it would be over the pin, so I just aimed between the pin and the edge of the bunker, hit a straight 8-iron and let the wind do the rest, and it went in.

“I did not think any ball landing short of the pin would go in just because it's coming in with such height from the elevated tee and the greens are soft. But hey, I think you can kind of see my face of surprise, right, early on, because I was pretty sure that ball was going to be past the hole about 15 feet.”

Returning to finish the last five holes of his second round thanks to earlier weather delays Rahm had dropped a shot on the par-4 14th and failed to birdie the par-5 15th before the sensational shot.

He backed up the ace with a birdie on the 17th and was within a whisker of another on 18 to shoot a 7-under 65 leaving him at 10-under and two shots clear of 2019 champion Patrick Cantlay at 8-under.

Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler and Max Homa sit tied third at 6-under.

“I wasn't too happy to have to stop yesterday because I was 5-under through 13 playing unbelievable golf. I was feeling really, really solid. Had you given me a flashlight, I probably would have tried to finish yesterday,” Rahm added.

“I'm leading the tournament after 36 so I'm in a good position. I'm comfortable. I've been looking forward to it, like I said earlier in the week. I've been doing a lot of backdoor top 10s and I'm happy I'm in contention for once.”