Scottie Scheffler regains world number one after a great duel with Jon Rahm

Scottie Scheffler is back.

To win the Phoenix Open, the tournament that he already won last year, then his first triumph on the American circuit and with which he inaugurated a colossal streak of four titles in two months, including the Augusta Masters, which catapulted him to number one of the world

And to climb to the top of the world rankings, dethroning Rory McIlroy and after beating Jon Rahm in a power-to-power duel.

Scheffler, 26, has lifted his second consecutive Phoenix Open this Sunday, with 19 under par, by -17 of Canadian Nick Taylor, -14 of Jon Rahm, -13 of Justin Thomas and -12 of Jason Day.

McIlroy, who gives up the crown, dropped to 32nd place, with -4.

Scheffler returns to command world golf after 30 weeks of reign between last March and October.

He is once again the king in Phoenix, the great world golf party, a tournament that brings together some 800,000 spectators over four days and that this course has also coincided with the celebration of the Super Bowl in his lands.

The pinnacle is the 16th hole, a tight par three, surrounded by stands where some 20,000 supporters turn golf into a kind of football game washed down with lots of beer (last year the green was often flooded with can throwing

.

The poster was huge, with 22 of the top 25 players in the world ranking, 19 big winners and the premiere of the tournament as

for the American circuit.

To deal with the checkbook of the Saudi league, the PGA Tour raised the amount of prizes for the event from 8 to 20 million dollars (3.6 for the winner).

And on top of that, the fight for number one between McIlroy, Scheffler and Rahm.

Bingo for the American, an ice player who last year linked this success with the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play and the Augusta Masters, with the finishing touch to the world ranking podium.

In Phoenix, the best Scheffler looks.

He returned to shine his touch with the

as in the months of his splendor.

Clutch eagle for Scottie Scheffler 🔥

He now owns the solo lead with 5 to play @WMPhoenixOpen.

pic.twitter.com/Htpnb9nIOT

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 12, 2023

For Jon Rahm it was also a special tournament.

It was played at his house, literally, since the Basque lives a few kilometers from the Arizona field where this event is held, marked in red on his calendar.

And he was surrounded by his family, including his 87-year-old grandmother, who followed him live at the charismatic 16th hole-stadium. There he lived one of his highlights of the week, a

in the second round with which embraced the lead.

He celebrated by putting his hand to his ear to hear the roar of the fans.

At that moment Rahm was coming from a stratospheric

on the par five of 15, a crush from the bunker.

And he would add another museum shot with a 14-meter

to save par on the par three of the 7th hole.

With that repertoire of targets, Rahm set out on Sunday to hunt for Scheffler, two shots ahead.

And pretty soon he was in a heavyweight title match.

on the first hole, Scheffler's

on the second, both of them

on the third.

Once again, a blow discounted by the Basque on the sixth hole, now only one from the American, while Nick Taylor witnessed the face-to-face as a guest and very much alive in the fight.

A

by Rahm on the 8th led him to close the first nine holes and three steps off the lead.

He rowed the Barrika champion, holding on to par when he suffered (like a big

on 11 that he clenched his fist with), but an

de Scheffler in 13 made it clear who was in charge and the Spanish's options drowned just like his ball in the water of 15. There his options of reaching world number one also vanished, a throne on which he sat for 43 weeks in two stretches between 2020 and 2022.

WHAT A PUTT!@JonRahmPGA drains the longest putt of the day on 16 @WMPhoenixOpen.

pic.twitter.com/yPIFDfymyh

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 12, 2023

With third place on the podium in Phoenix, Rahm maintains his great level of late last year and early this year.

There are four victories in the last eight tournaments (Open de España, DP World Tour Championship, Sentry Tournament of Champions and American Express), and a fourth, seventh, eighth and third place in the other four, always among the best.

An amazing regularity that makes him the number in the FedEx Cup, the list of the best of the year in the American circuit.

Final classification of the Phoenix Open.

Sergio Garcia, fifth;

Del Rey, third

Along with Rahm, other Spaniards fought for victory this Sunday.

On the Asian circuit, Sergio García finished fifth in the Oman International Series (final classification) with -3, seven shots behind the winner, the Japanese Takumi Kanaya (-10).

The man from Castellón was participating in his first tournament in the last three months, out due to knee arthroscopy, and the disconnection suited him well to be in the top positions of the table.

Eugenio López Chacarra was 24th with +2.

Both golfers belong to the Saudi league, LIV Golf, but they can compete in the Asian Tour appointments to add points in the world ranking.

The new edition of the Saudi circuit begins from February 24 to 26 in Mayakoba (Mexico), the start of a 14-stop calendar that will visit Valderrama from June 30 to July 2.

And on the European circuit, Alejandro del Rey was third at the Singapore Open with -15, four behind the South African Ockie Strydom (final ranking).

The Spaniard started co-leader on the last day, and started with three

in a row in the first three holes, but then slowed down and could not resist the rhythm of his head.

Despite everything, it is his best result on the DP World Tour and an important step to keep the card.

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