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Jon Rahm Reacts to Losing PGA Tour Player of the Year Award to Patrick Cantlay

ByArjun Athreya

Sep 17, 2021 | 10:34 AM EDT

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Jon Rahm was one of the best players during the 2020-21 PGA Tour season. Rahm just has one trophy to back up this statement, but his consistency was phenomenal. The Spaniard was one among the favorites to take home the Jack Nicklaus Trophy which is given to the PGA Tour player of the Year but he ended up losing to Patrick Cantlay.

Cantlay won four tournaments the previous season compared to Rahm’s one. However, Rahm was incredibly consistent with his game throughout the season and a lot of fans feel the Spaniard deserved the trophy.

Cantlay humbly accepted the award, but there is still a lot of backlashes he’s facing. Fans were unhappy with the Tour Championship winner being presented the award and felt a golfer like Jon Rahm shouldn’t have been ignored for the season he had.

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Jon Rahm opens up on losing the PGA Tour Player of the Year Award

Jon Rahm is currently competing Fortinet Championship where he’s heavily favored to win. After shooting an ever-par round on Thursday, the 26-year-old met with the media where he was asked to comment his thoughts about losing the Jack Nicklaus trophy to Patrick Cantlay.

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“Well, finishing runner-up doesn’t feel too good,” Rahm mentioned. “I know I had … I felt like I played good enough to be able to earn that title, but unfortunate situations like the one at Memorial cost me, right? Had I been able to play, maybe win it, I think it would have tipped the balance towards myself.”

Jon Rahm also weighed in other factors which could’ve cost him the award. His no-show at the Olympic Games in Tokyo was certainly a huge letdown in this aspect. However, all these shortcomings will only fuel Rahm to perform even better in the upcoming season.

“I know I can get better. I do pride myself on consistency, so seeing all those top-10s, it’s a job well done, but hopefully next year I can add a couple more wins to the stats,” Rahm added.

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Rahm has six PGA Tour wins in his trophy cabinet along with the U.S. Open 2021 title. He was certainly the best player on the PGA Tour last season, but not winning the FedExCup certainly titled the voting against his favor.