Jon Rahm ignored his caddie Adam Hayes and cost himself $1.9 million more dollars

Jon Rahm hopefully learned a valuable lesson on Sunday during the final round of the Players Championship. On the par-5 11th hole, Rahm pulled his tee shot left into the fairway bunker. He was tied for the lead when he arrived at his ball and it was clear that he wasn’t going to have a very easy shot to get to the green despite the fact that he has plenty of power to do so.

He was in the bunker, didn’t have a direct line thanks to the trees down the left side of the fairway, had water in front of him, and was dealing with gusting winds.

Rahm’s caddie Adam Hayes got to work and did his job in trying to convince the 24-year-old Spaniard to lay up considering all of the issues facing him and the fact that his playing partner, Tommy Fleetwood, had also just put one in the water from the fairway.

“I’m gonna get you flat over here,” Hayes said, pointing over to the fairway. “You’ll have a flat lie, you’ll have 100—”

“The problem is, I’m not confident hitting that shot. If you hit it too far down there you’ll have a very tough angle.”

Hayes shook his head and said, “Ok, yep.”

“If I hit the green, great — I was going anywhere left that was grass or sand. So there was a big amount of land to hit there.

“Adam was trying to convince me to go right, and when I first got to the ball I was really sure I could do it. I mean if you give me 10 balls besides that one I’ll hit the other one on land. But unfortunately I got a little bit of doubt in me.

“I didn’t hit my best shot but it wasn’t that far off, so I knew I could pull it off. I guess it’s easy to think of that as the point that I lost the tournament, but I could have hit a good drive on 12.”

Yes, it was that far off and everyone, including myself, could easily see that at the time.

This decision cost Rahm a chance at winning nearly $2.25 million dollars. Instead, Rahm walked away with $253,125, which is a difference of $1,996,875 dollars.

It was a very perplexing decision for him to decide to go for it when laying up would have set up for a much easier par even if the angle wasn’t what he desired.

Brandel Chamblee called it the most baffling decision ever struck at the Players: “I think this will go down in history as the most baffling decision ever struck here at this event.”

Rahm would go on to find the water on the 17th and end up finishing in a tie for 12th.

Players Championship payout

FinishPlayerFedExEarnings ($)
1Rory McIlroy6002,250,000
2Jim Furyk3301,350,000
3Eddie Pepperell0725,000
3Jhonattan Vegas180725,000
5Tommy Fleetwood110456,250
5Dustin Johnson110456,250
5Brandt Snedeker110456,250
8Jason Day85350,000
8Brian Harman85350,000
8Hideki Matsuyama85350,000
8Justin Rose85350,000
12Abraham Ancer66253,125
12Joel Dahmen66253,125
12Jon Rahm66253,125
12Adam Scott66253,125
16Keegan Bradley56193,750
16Ollie Schniederjans56193,750
16Webb Simpson56193,750
16Nick Taylor56193,750
20Bryson DeChambeau50156,250
20Ryan Moore50156,250
22Tony Finau43125,000
22Sergio Garcia43125,000
22Kevin Kisner43125,000
22J.T. Poston43125,000
26Byeong Hun An3694,375
26Emiliano Grillo3694,375
26Billy Horschel3694,375
26Matt Kuchar3694,375
30Lucas Bjerregaard077,625
30Tom Hoge2877,625
30Matt Wallace077,625
30Gary Woodland2877,625
30Tiger Woods2877,625
35Brice Garnett2160,313
35Charles Howell III2160,313
35Russell Knox2160,313
35Seamus Power2160,313
35Rory Sabbatini2160,313
35Justin Thomas2160,313
41Corey Conners1445,000
41Matthew Fitzpatrick045,000
41Denny McCarthy1445,000
41Thorbjørn Olesen045,000
41Vaughn Taylor1445,000
41Martin Trainer1445,000
47Bud Cauley931,389
47Rickie Fowler931,389
47Sung Kang931,389
47Jason Kokrak931,389
47Kelly Kraft931,389
47Andrew Landry931,389
47Keith Mitchell931,389
47Richy Werenski931,389
47Patrick Reed931,389
56Brian Gay527,250
56Si Woo Kim527,250
56Chris Kirk527,250
56Brooks Koepka527,250
56Luke List527,250
56Francesco Molinari527,250
56Louis Oosthuizen527,250
56Scott Piercy527,250
56Ian Poulter527,250
56Cameron Smith527,250
56Bubba Watson527,250
67Daniel Berger425,500
67Scott Langley425,500
67Jimmy Walker425,500
70Michael Thompson325,000
71Martin Kaymer324,750
72Branden Grace324,375
72C.T. Pan324,375
74Jason Dufner323,750
74Tyler Duncan323,750
74Anirban Lahiri323,750
77Patrick Rodgers323,250
78Kevin Na223,000
79Patton Kizzire222,625
79Adam Long222,625

Author: Michael Shamburger

Michael is the founder and Editor in Chief of The Stiff Shaft. He spent 15 years covering golf for TheBigLead, Golfweek, and Golf Channel. Don't base your opinion on those of others. Do your research and form your own opinions.

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