Daily Republic
Monday, June 21, 2021 SECTION B Paul Farmer . Sports Editor . 427.6926
Rahm wins wild U.S. Giants hit 4 HRs in Open at Torrey Pines 11-2 romp Tribune Content Agecy
One thing about Torrey Pines Golf Course: It does not produce boring U.S. Opens. Thirteen years after Tiger Woods’ dramatic 91-hole victory in the first national championship held in San Diego, Jon Rahm earned his first major championship by winning another wild Open on Sunday at Torrey Pines South. (Final scoring.) “You have no idea what this means right now,” said Rahm, celebrating his first Father’s Day with his infant son Kepa and his wife Kelley. He did it in a way that was reminiscent of the victory by Woods, who forced a playoff in 2008 with a 12-foot birdie putt at the 72nd hole. Rahm, whose first PGA Tour victory came in 2017 when he made a 66-foot eagle putt on the 18th hole at Torrey Pines, rolled in an 18-foot birdie putt on the same hole to break a tie with South African Louis Oosthuizen, who was playing the 15th hole at the time. Oosthuizen’s chances all but evaporated on the 17th hole when his drive rolled into the canyon and he made bogey after missing a 10-foot putt. “That’s just incredible to make that mistake,” NBC’s Gary Koch said on TV. Rahm finished with a 4-under 67 on Sunday and a four-round total of 6-under 278. Oosthuizen finished second, one shot behind Rahm, after making a birdie at 18 for a final-round 71. It was the sixth runner-up finish in a major for Oosthuizen, who has a lone victory in the 2010 British Open. It was the first major championship for Rahm, and the first U.S. Open win by a Spaniard. In his last tournament, the Memorial just two weeks ago, Rahm was disqualified after testing positive for Covid-19 while holding a six-shot lead before the fourth round. While players around him were struggling with the difficult back nine – he was the only player in the final six pairings not to make a bogey on those holes – Rahm made seven straight pars before a 25-foot twisting, downhill birdie putt at 17 to tie for the lead. At 18, Rahm had 222 yards to the front right pin on the easiest finishing hole in U.S. Open history, but his second shot went into the bunker to the right of the green. With a
over Phillies Go 6-1 on homestand Tribune Content Agency Nothing like a week at Oracle Park to cure the Giants of a minihitting slump. They began a sevengame homestand last Monday. They hadn’t managed more than five hits in any of their previous five games. Sure enough, the Giants didn’t score fewer than five runs in any of the seven games, the last being Sunday’s 11-2 romp over Philadelphia. “We knew that the version of our offense that we all saw in D.C. was not our best, and we knew some adjustments were necessary,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said. “And I thought we made those adjustments on the homestand and got back to our approach, and obviously our guys feel very comfortable here in our home ballpark.” In going 6-1 on the
Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images/TNS
Jon Rahm of Spain celebrates making a putt for birdie on the 18th green during the final round of the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course (South Course), Sunday, in San Diego. downhill lie in the bunker and a pond behind the pin, he played a safe shot well to the right of the hole. No fewer than 10 golfers had legitimate chances to win through-
with two bogeys followed by a double bogey at the par-5 13th. He then made a quadruple-bogey 8 at 17 and finished with a 77, including a 44 on the back nine.
It was the first major championship for Rahm, and the first U.S. Open win by a Spaniard. In his last tournament, the Memorial just two weeks ago, Rahm was disqualified after testing positive for Covid-19 while holding a six-shot lead before the fourth round. out the cloudy afternoon. At one point there were four players tied for the lead with six more trailing by only a stroke. One by one, however, the contenders dropped back, undone by the difficult course and stifling pressure. Bryson DeChambeau, the defending champion, had the lead for much of the first part of the day, including a near ace at the eighth hole, but he played holes 11-13 at 4 over,
Russell Henley and Mackenzie Hughes, who shared the lead with Oosthuizen after the third round, both fell short of securing their first major championship. Henley made an early birdie at the third hole but three straight bogeys starting at the sixth proved costly. He also bogeyed 18 to drop out of the top 10; his 76 left him tied for 13. Hughes was only two behind Oosthuizen after 10 holes but made a double
bogey at 11 when his tee shot bounced off a cart path and into a tree. He finished with a 77 and tied for 15th. Collin Morikawa, last year’s PGA Championship winner, missed two birdie putts inside 7 feet on the front nine and was still only one shot behind when he made a double bogey at 13. He finished tied for fourth at 2 under after a 70 on Sunday. Rory McIlroy, who won this tournament 10 years ago, was undone by a bogey at 11 and a double bogey at 12. He was in a large group tied for seventh at 1 under after a 73. San Diegan Xander Schauffele, who began the day only one shot behind Rahm, made a birdie at the first hole but bogeys at 5, 6 and 8 put him over par for the tournament. He rallied a bit on the back nine but never threatened and finished in the group at 1 under. Harris English played the final five holes in 3 under to finish third at 3-under 281.
homestand, the Giants hit .333 (82-for-246) and blasted 16 home runs. Shortstop Brandon Crawford hit one of the Giants’ four homers Sunday. He said the ballpark at Third and King “hasn’t necessarily been a place where we come to get hot, but there’s something about playing in front of home fans, for sure.” The 18,265 at Oracle on Sunday saw the Giants tie Toronto for the major-league lead in home runs with 107. And here’s some perspective: In 2012, when they won the World Series, the Giants hit 103 – for the entire regular season. “Our team is not looking to hit homers all the time,” said infielder Wilmer Flores, who hit two solo shots Sunday, “but that comes with good swings and good pitches that we’re See Giants, Page B8
A’s fall to Yankees on game-ending triple play; Sean Manaea strikes out 11 in loss Tribune Content Agency NEW YORK — Sean Manaea fired fastball after fastball. The A’s left-hander delivers from an odd angle. His velocity this year is up and on Sunday, on a warm afternoon at Yankee Stadium, it hummed. Yankees hitters seemed to have no answer – until the sixth inning. Manaea fired 98 pitches in a start unmarred until the last one. Gary Sanchez lined a two-run double against Manaea in the sixth that proved the difference as the Yankees dealt the A’s a 2-1 defeat and a road series loss for the first time this season. The end came with ignominy: the Yankees turned a gameending triple play.
Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman walked his first two batters in the ninth. He examined his left hand and got a mound visit from a trainer visited the mound, but stayed in the game. His first pitch to Sean Murphy missed for his eighth straight ball. Murphy swung at the next and hit a sharp grounder to third baseman Gio Urshela, who began a 5-4-3 turn. “I mean, that’s a pretty crazy thing to happen,” A’s first baseman Matt Olson said. “Obviously we were picking up some steam there and Chapman was struggling to find the zone. It looked like he just pulled a fastball to the inside See A’s, Page B8
Larson wins NASCAR’s first Nashville Cup race Tribune Content Agency It was a race of blown brake rotors and cut tires at Nashville Superspeedway, a track that hosted its first NASCAR Cup race on Sunday. The Ally 400 winner didn’t blow any rotors. Kyle Larson wasn’t braking much, leading 264 of 300 laps, including the final one, to win his fourth race of the Cup Series season. He finished with a 4.3 second lead over Ross Chastain, who finished in
second. William Byron finished in third. Larson’s No. 5 crew chief Cliff Daniels was on the radio reminding Larson to conserve fuel at the end of the race as he stayed out front for the final 78 laps. No unexpected cautions came to bunch the field during that time. So it was up to Larson and his team not to make any mistakes, including maneuvering through a mild drama in the final 50 laps in which debris was stuck on the leader’s grille and
causing the car to overheat. Larson slid behind a lapped car, the debris blew off and he was back to sailing away with another win. “We never really had to run behind people, so I don’t know,” Larson responded on NBCSN when asked if the win felt dominant. “If one of my teammates got out front again, it would have been hard to pass them.” Byron was running in second late in the race, and could have potentially put up another 1-2 Hendrick
Motorsports finish, as the organization has done in the last four races. Team owner Rick Hendrick said he wished Byron had “a little bit of gas” to stay ahead of Chastain at the end of the race for another top-two, but still called it “pretty flawless all day long” for the No. 5 team. “They’ve been in full stride here for the last seven, eight weeks, and really all year,” Hendrick said. “It’s good to finish it off.” Hendrick, Larson and See Larson, Page B8
Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images/TNS
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway, Sunday, in Lebanon, Tennessee.
