Jon Rahm finds winner's circle once again, this time in his native Spain

Jon Rahm made the most of his latest trip home to his native Spain, winning the DP World Tour’s acciona Open de España presented by Madrid.

The 27-year-old Rahm grew up in the Basque coastal town of Barrika, population 1,500, and fairly or not, he’s been compared to the great Spanish golfers who came before him since his teens: Seve Ballesteros, Jose-Maria Olazabal, Sergio Garcia. He met the legendary Ballesteros at a prize-giving ceremony when he was around 12, four years before the shot-making maestro’s passing. Olazabal happened to be there, too. Rahm shook his hand but caught up in the moment, he nearly missed that of Ballesteros.

“My dad almost had a heart attack,” recalled Rahm, the former Arizona State star. “I have that memory. I never got to meet him again, never got to speak to him again.”

With a sizzling final-round 62, Rahm lapped the field by six strokes to claim his third national open title, equaling the haul of Ballesteros in his home Open. Following in Seve’s footsteps, Rahm collected the trophy at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, where Ballesteros claimed his third Spanish Open victory in 1995, and his 50th and final DP World Tour victory.

“You know, Seve is a great hero of mine and to do something he took his whole career to do in just a few years is quite humbling, I’m not going to lie. It might not be the strongest field I play all year but sometimes this could be the hardest to win, right?” Rahm said. “When I’m at home, I’m supposed to win, everybody is betting on me to win and to come out and play a Sunday like I just did it’s hard to describe. It was my lowest round, my lowest score out here, it was pretty much a perfect week.”

— Adam Schupak, Golfweek

Ryder still riding high on WM Phoenix Open ace

Sam Ryder had the most memorable shot of the 2022 WM Phoenix Open, when he aced the par-3 16th during the third round. Carlos Ortiz aced the hole on Sunday but Ryder's was the first of the week and ignited the biggest reaction, as fans tossed several hundred beer cans and water bottles onto the course.

Nearly eight months later, Ryder still enjoys talking about it.

"I'm not sick of it in the least. I figure when February rolls around, it will be old-ish news after we go through a couple fun things reminiscing on what happened. It was special," he said last Thursday at the Shriners Children's Open in Las Vegas.

"It's something that people like to talk about and ask me about. Frankly, I'm not sick of it. It's just really good memories and nothing negative surrounding it. It's always fun to relive it."

The tournament had to pause for about 15 minutes so that grounds crews could clear the green and pick up all the bottles and cans. Ryder admits, though, he hasn't watched the video that much.

"I probably should. It kind of is something that would be good for my psyche or my mental (state) to kind of gain confidence and stuff like that. I wasn't even watching it really during the tournament because I was focused on trying to have a good Sunday, but it's fun to watch. It's cool when you see some of the highlights, even when the Espys were on this year, they showed the blip real quick.

"It was just a fun event, and I think it was good because it made people that maybe are not regular golf fans or the average golf fan, made it fun. 'Oh, that looks like a good time. I can get behind that.' So, yeah, maybe I'll go back and watch it a couple times and see if I can get a little confidence or something from it."

Ryder finished tied for 28th in Las Vegas.

Cologuard Classic has new leader

Geoff Hill, who was born in Tucson and attended Rincon High School, where he played on the 2003 state championship golf team, is now in charge of the Cologuard Classic.

The Tucson Conquistadores, who run the PGA Tour Champions event, named Hill, also a University of Arizona grad, executive director of the Conquistadores as well. The 2023 Cologuard Classic will be March 2-5 at Omni Tucson National Resort. Miguel Angel Jimenez is the defending champion. Phil Mickelson, a crowd favorite even in Tucson, will not return due to his suspension by the PGA Tour as well as his association with the LIV Golf Series.

Hill takes over for Katy Pradella, who ran the 2021 and 2022 events. Hill has more than a decade of experience in sports entertainment, most recently working as vice president of operations at Circuit of the Americas, an entertainment facility, and host of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. He was also the tournament operations manager for the PGA Tour's World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play and the Tour Championship.

Chip shots

—Thompson Golf Group, based in Gilbert, has acquired Longbow Golf Club in Mesa. Thompson is now the owner/operator of four daily-fee golf clubs, three in Arizona: Power Ranch Golf Club in Gilbert, Dove Valley Ranch Golf Club in Cave Creek as well as Geneva Golf Club in Alexandria, Minnesota.

—Former Arizona State golfer Linnea Strom, who was the 2018 Rookie of the Year on LPGA's developmental tour, the Epson Tour, has regained her LPGA card and will return to the game's highest level in 2023. Strom, 25, won once and had five top-5s while topping the Epson money list and earned Player of the Year honors in 2022.

—Team North Carolina took down Team California 7½ to 4½ in the match play final Sunday at Grayhawk Golf Course in Scottsdale to claim the 2022 National Car Rental PGA Jr. League Championship.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Jon Rahm finds winner's circle again in his native Spain