Jon Rahm ready to repel his rivals and become the king of Sawgrass

Sky Sports Golf, 2pm Sunday

Story so far
Europeans are dominating the Players Championship in Florida this week, with the first three places on the leaderboard filled by Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy, with only 18 holes to play at TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach.

Rahm surged up the board, covering the back nine in six under par, a tap-in eagle at the 11th hole followed by a tap-in birdie at the notorious 17th. The Spaniard signed for a 64 which left him at 15 under par, looking down on the rest.

Fleetwood and McIlroy were playing alongside each other in the final pairing of round three and both made a poor start, the Englishman opening with a double-bogey and the Northern Irishman out the gates with a pair of bogeys. Both went bogey-free on the back-nine, though, to remain in the thick of things.

Fleetwood and McIlroy are tied for second place, a shot behind Rahm, and there is a further two-shot gap to Jason Day in fourth. The leading Americans are all five shots behind, a group headlined by Dustin Johnson.

Leaderboard
-15 Jon Rahm
-14 Tommy Fleetwood, Rory McIlroy
-12 Jason Day
-11 Abraham Ancer
-10 Ollie Schniederjans, Brandt Snedeker, Keegan Bradley, Dustin Johnson, Brian Harman, Jim Furyk

Best prices
2 J Rahm, 12-5 R McIlroy, 7-2 T Fleetwood, 10 J Day, 25 D Johnson, 45 A Ancer, 80 J Furyk, K Bradley, B Snedeker, 100 bar

Final-day advice
Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy got into their stride after stumbling starts to round three, but their early wobble allowed Jon Rahm to stamp his authority on the event and it is a brave punter who backs against the cocksure Spaniard.

Rahm, like McIlroy, has relished the calendar switch for the Players, with the softer March set-up affording more opportunity to attack TPC Sawgrass. Some early moisture in the air on Saturday allowed Rahm to make merry and the ultra-impressive youngster carded a near-perfect round.

Aside from a sloppy bogey with a wedge in his hand from the fairway at the par-four sixth, Rahm was exceptional, covering his final ten holes in seven under par. He humbled the 17th hole, made the difficult 18th look a doddle, and played like a Sawgrass veteran.

The fact is Rahm is making only his third start at Sawgrass – a layout which typically takes plenty of getting-to-know – but the usual rules do not apply to this enormous talent. His first full schedule on the circuit was 2017, but the 24-year-old already has two US Tour victories under his belt, three European Tour wins, the 2018 Hero World Challenge title, and a successful Ryder Cup appearance. Major triumphs and world-number-one status have always been on his radar.

Given Fleetwood has never won on the US Tour and McIlroy is going through a barren spell of badly underperforming at the business end of tournaments, the last thing these two needed was a raging Rahm swaggering to the top of the board.

The event has probably become a shootout between the trio – coming from behind is notoriously difficult at Sawgrass – and Rahm can emerge triumphant on a cool, cloudy, breezy Florida afternoon.
With Adri Arnaus looking a potential winner of the Kenya Open, this could be a glorious day for Spain, and the Arnaus-Rahm double will appeal to many.

Players Championship final-round twoball punters are pointed towards steady Mexican Abraham Ancer, who can approach the water-strewn terrain of Sawgrass with confidence because he hits his ball so straight. Expect Ancer to keep big numbers off his scorecard and outscore Ollie Schniederjans in the 5.15pm UK and Ireland time match. Rahm and Fleetwood tee off at 5.35pm in the final pairing.

Outright recommendation
J Rahm
3pts 2-1 general

Twoballs recommendation
A Ancer
1pt 10-11 general

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