Chasers look to embrace nerves in pursuit of Jon Rahm at Mexico Open

VIDANTA VALLARTA, Mexico – Professional golfers often speak of how a tournament “begins on the back nine Sunday.”

RELATED:Leaderboard | Jon Rahm keeps two-shot lead at Mexico Open at Vidanta

The expression refers to the inevitable nerves that arrive on an event’s final day. Subconsciously, a player knows one more crisp iron shot or holed putt can make all the difference.

Whether a player is among the game’s elite or vying for a career-changing first title, those nerves are equal-opportunity.

“Whenever you’re in that position, there’s just something going through your body,” said three-time PGA TOUR winner Cameron Champ, who enters the final round of this week’s Mexico Open at Vidanta in a tie for second at 13-under, two back of leader Jon Rahm. “The more you’re in it, the more you kind of understand it and can try and control it to a certain degree.

“You’ve just got to embrace the nerves and excitement. It’s not bad nerves, it’s not bad excitement. Just try to control them the best you can, and knowing all the other guys will be just as nervous as you, no matter how many wins they have.”

Earlier this week, Rahm thought back to his first PGA TOUR event, which came in Mexico at the 2014 World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. When asked to offer advice to players making the first start of their career, he was direct.

“If you’re playing, play to win,” he said on Tuesday.

Rahm has channeled his own advice, carding rounds of 64-66-68 to stand 15-under through three rounds in Mexico, two clear of Champ and Kurt Kitayama. The Spaniard shared the lead after the opening round, and he has held the solo lead after each of Friday and Saturday competition.

The collection of players near the top of the leaderboard at Vidanta Vallarta, in the Mexico Open’s first playing as an official PGA TOUR event in a history dating to 1944, represents an eclectic mix of career stages.

Rahm stands No. 2 on the Official World Golf Ranking and has won six TOUR titles, including last year’s U.S. Open.

Champ has won three TOUR titles, one in each of the past three seasons, and is known for having one of the TOUR’s most high-powered games when he is clicking on all cylinders.

The remaining four of the top six players on the leaderboard – Kurt Kitayama (T2) and a trio of players sharing fourth in Davis Riley, Patrick Rodgers and Nate Lashley – combine for just one TOUR win, Lashley’s triumph at the 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic.

Kitayama has competed on tours all over the world, with two DP World Tour titles to his credit. After earning his first TOUR card via the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Finals, he is playing his first season as a TOUR member, highlighted by a third-place finish at The Honda Classic in February.

“You might grip the club harder, swing a little harder,” said Kitayama of final-round contention. “There are a lot of things. You feel jitters that come into play, and you have to learn how to calm yourself down.”

Riley gained experience in the spotlight at last month’s Valspar Championship in Tampa, holding the 54-hole lead en route to a playoff loss to Sam Burns.

The University of Alabama alum won twice on the Korn Ferry Tour – including the 2020 Panama Championship, also in a Spanish-speaking country. He’ll aim to channel those successes Sunday, as well as the fortitude displayed in battling back from a triple bogey on the fifth hole of his final round in Tampa, playing his final 13 holes in 2-under to earn a spot in the playoff.

“Never count yourself out of a tournament,” said Riley after signing for a third-round 67 at Vidanta Vallarta. “Just stick around, just keep playing. Just play golf, and even if you have a hiccup here and there, it doesn’t mean that you’re out of the tournament.”

Rodgers is making his 208th career PGA TOUR start; he has recorded five top-three finishes but is yet to secure a title. Like Riley, he also won on the Korn Ferry Tour in a Spanish-speaking country (2015 Astara Golf Championship), as did Lashley at the 2017 Corales Puntacana Championship, then a Korn Ferry Tour stop.

After asserting himself as a consistent TOUR pro for nearly a decade, Rodgers needed to return to the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Finals to better his status. He successfully finished inside The Finals 25 and carried that momentum to the fall portion of the TOUR schedule, where he recorded two top-six showings in his first three starts.

The Indiana native, 29, said the Spanish-speaking setting allows him to concentrate 100 percent on his job – which Sunday will be to properly handle the emotions down the stretch.

“Something about maybe being out of the (United States) or being in a spot that’s slightly unfamiliar, it helps me focus on the task at hand,” Rodgers said Saturday. “I’m all business this week; it’s all about golf and playing the best way that I can. Obviously we’re in a spectacular destination, just like Bogota was, so it’s easy to enjoy myself while I’m here.”

For professional golfers, enjoyment can correlate with the opportunity to feel those back-nine Sunday nerves. The pre-work has proven effective, and it’s time for the athletic instincts to kick in.

The chasers are lined up in pursuit of Rahm, who aims to improve on a 1-for-6 record of converting a 54-hole lead or co-lead on TOUR.

Rahm was asked Saturday evening if he expects to feel any differently when he wakes up Sunday morning as the one being chased.

“Obviously you’re aware that you’re leading,” Rahm said, “and you want to do it better. But essentially, it’s the same.”

Until the inevitable unpredictability sets in.