Jon Rahm surges into contention in Mexico after stunning round of 61
Spain’s Jon Rahm fired a career-best 61 – which included a hole-in-one – to charge up the leaderboard at the WGC-Mexico Championship, where Justin Thomas will take a one-shot lead into the final round.
Rahm had started the third round 10 strokes off the lead on one under at Chapultepec Golf Club.
However, a blistering start saw the 25-year-old make birdies on six of the opening seven holes, with a bogey at eight seeing him go into the turn at 30.
Lowest round as a pro ✔️New course record ✔️Ties the lowest ever WGC round ✔️10 under par ✔️#WGCMexicopic.twitter.com/kIjU8kqKZa
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) February 22, 2020
The Spaniard built momentum again as he picked up three more shots heading into the final two holes and hole a superb ace on the 158-yard par-three 17th, where his tee-shot took one bounce before finding the hole to cap a remarkable round.
Rahm’s 61 was a course record at Chapultepec, the lowest round of his own European Tour career and the joint-lowest round in the history of the World Golf Championships.
“I’ve been hitting really good putts for the better part of a year but they just haven’t gone in,” Rahm told the European Tour’s official website.
NEW COURSE RECORD ✅@JonRahmpga shots a 10-under-par 61 in Round 3. pic.twitter.com/G9U0tPGEQ7
— México Championship (@WGCMexico) February 22, 2020
“Starting yesterday on my 10th hole they started going in and it carried on today.
“I basically had tap-in, tap-in, tap-in and 10 feet for birdie and I thought ‘today could be a really special day’.
“Then backing it up with a great birdie on six and seven and a great tee shot on eight, which is a difficult tee-shot, I thought it could have been the day it ended up being.”
Rahm added: “I think a lot of us like to talk sometimes about how unlucky we get and I think today was one of those days where I got fortunate.
“I hit the right shots and I got the right bounces and I took advantage of it. There was a couple of holes where I could have gotten a little more unlucky
“I think we all compete and want to win tournaments when everybody is playing their best and if you win one of those stacked fields, it’s a lot of fun and it’s a great accomplishment, so hopefully I’m the one on top tomorrow afternoon.”