Jon Rahm comes up just short at TOUR Championship

ATLANTA – He came ever so close, but in the end it wasn’t enough.

Jon Rahm, who began the week four behind Patrick Cantlay as per the TOUR Championship’s Starting Strokes format, shot a final-round 68, but came up one shot shy of Cantlay (69).

Cantlay ends the year with four victories plus the FedExCup, and now has the inside track for Player of the Year. Rahm made him earn it, his 5-iron second shot nearly hitting the flagstick at the par-5 18th hole. When his eagle attempt didn’t fall, Cantlay only had to two-putt for the win.

“He’s No. 1 for a reason,” Cantlay’s caddie, Matt Minister, said of Rahm. “It was intense. There was never a time when I thought we could just relax out there.”

Rahm was in Cantlay’s back pocket as they played together for 54 consecutive holes.

“I gave it my all,” Rahm said. “It wasn't enough. But it is what it is. I get to go home to my beautiful wife and family and rest up a little bit. The year is not over. We have a couple big events coming up and a couple big ones on the European Tour.”

Added Cantlay: “It was like a one-on-one match play feel.”

He led wire-to-wire, and on the few occasions over the last four days when Rahm pulled even, it didn’t last. At times, prior to Sunday, Rahm birdied to tie only to watch Cantlay birdie to retake the lead seconds later. Cantlay took a two-shot lead into the final round.

He built the lead to three, but it went back to one with a two-shot swing at the fifth hole.

Rahm made no bogeys but didn’t convert for birdies, either. He made 12 straight pars from the par-5 sixth hole through the par-4 17th hole, breaking the streak only with the birdie at the last.

“A couple shots I keep going back, that stretch of 10, 11, 12, I was in position to put a little bit of pressure and I just didn't,” he said. “But at the same time, I shot my lowest score ever for four days on this golf course, which has usually been a challenge for me.”

Cantlay’s birdie at the 16th hole gave him a two-shot margin, and he weathered a scary moment at the 17th hole. Rahm missed his 11-foot birdie putt, and Cantlay, scuffling right of the fairway and green, made from six feet for bogey, limiting the damage to just a shot.

He took a one-shot lead down the par-5 18th hole, where both he and Rahm split the fairway with huge drives and hit the green in two. Rahm’s eagle attempt, from 18 1/2 feet behind the hole, missed, and Cantlay needed only two-putt from 11 feet, 4 inches for the win.

“Patrick played great golf,” Rahm said. “And he was four shots ahead of me, and even though I might have been the better man over the week, he earned it. He played amazing. That up-and-down after missing from 17, the second shot from 18 to almost make it is even more impressive.

“I think you can say he won this,” he added. “He played amazing golf.”