Golf

Jon Rahm turns final round in Bahamas into victory procession

Spaniard wins Hero World Challenge as Koepka ends 2018 as world number one

Jon Rahm of Spain poses with the trophy after winning the Hero World Challenge at Albany, Bahamas. Photograph: Rob Carr/Getty Images

Mon Dec 3 2018 - 07:04

Justin Rose could not end the year with the world number one ranking as Tony Finau birdied the final hole of the Hero World Challenge to push him into third place at Tiger Woods' event in the Bahamas.

Though Jon Rahm cruised to victory by four shots, there was still some final-hole drama as par or worse for Finau would have seen Rose move back above Brooks Koepka after weeks of flip-flopping for top spot with the American.

Instead, Finau birdied the 18th to take sole possession of second place in the tournament, leaving Rose second in the world.

It was a frustrating end to a day when Rose was in strong form.

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Though he suffered an early setback when he bogied the fourth hole, Rose birded the next three to make the turn at two under.

He picked up another five shots on the back nine, highlighted by an eagle on the par-five 15th.

Rahm, Finau and Henrik Stenson had begun the day tied at the top of the leaderboard, but only Rose — who started the day down in eighth — could live with Rahm's pace on Sunday.

He signed for a blemish-free 65 while a double-bogey on the 14th ended Finau’s hopes as he carded a 69 that also included two bogeys and seven birdies. Stenson slipped to fourth place with a round of 71.

Final round scores and totals in the USPGA Tour Hero World Challenge (USA unless stated, par 72):

268 Jon Rahm (Spa) 71 63 69 65

272 Tony Finau 72 64 67 69

273 Justin Rose (Eng) 70 70 68 65

274 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 68 66 69 71

275 Patrick Cantlay 65 70 76 64, Rickie Fowler (USA) 72 67 67 69

276 Dustin Johnson 68 67 72 69

277 Xander Schauffele 73 68 66 70, Alex Noren (Swe) 69 69 70 69, Gary Woodland 72 66 67 72

278 Patrick Reed 65 77 66 70

280 Justin Thomas 70 70 70 70, Bryson DeChambeau 70 71 71 68, Bubba Watson 69 73 69 69

282 Keegan Bradley 71 69 72 70

283 Jason Day (Aus) 71 72 70 70

287 Tiger Woods 73 69 72 73

288 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 74 68 71 75

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