US Open: Jon Rahm favourite for Open Championship after win at Torrey Pines

Jon Rahm is the new 10-1 favourite to win next month's Open Championship after he claimed his first Major at the US Open on Sunday.

The Spaniard, who had started the final round three shots off the pace having been the 9-1 pre-tournament favourite, claimed a one-shot victory at Torrey Pines in California, finishing with two birdies to hold off the challenge of Louis Oosthuizen.

It was the sixth time that Oosthuizen, who won the 2010 Open, has finished second in a Major and he is still yet to claim a victory in America.

His chance went when he found a hazard off the 17th tee and then could not muster the eagle on the par-five 18th that would have forced a playoff.

Oosthuizen has now finished seventh, third and second in the last three US Opens.

Rahm's victory came two weeks after he was forced to withdraw from the Memorial Tournament due to a positive Covid-19 test when he was six shots clear at the end of the third round, and he was heavily backed to make up for that disappointment in the third Major of the year.

This week's win was enough to take him to the top of the world rankings ahead of Dustin Johnson and came at the same venue as Rahm's first PGA Tour victory in the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open.

Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau were both in the mix but saw their challenges fade.

McIlroy, who won the US Open at Congressional in 2011, finished with a disappointing 73 while defending champion DeChambeau's fall was more spectacular as he carded a closing 77.

The Open starts at Royal St George's in Kent on July 15 and while Rahm finished fifth at The Masters this year and eighth at the US PGA, his record at the British Major has been indifferent.

He was 11th at Royal Portrush when Shane Lowry won the last battle for the Claret Jug in 2019, but his Open record before that reads 59-44-MC.

Rahm would become the second Spanish winner of the Open after Seve Ballesteros's three successes.

Johnson is available at 12-1 for glory and Royal St George's was the scene of his best performance in 11 attempts to win The Open, when he finished second alongside Phil Mickelson, three shots behind Darren Clarke in 2011.

McIlroy, who won The Open in 2014 and has finished in the top five in three of the last four, is also available at 12-1 while reigning champion Lowry can be backed at 40-1.

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