Jon Rahm steals BMW Championship from Dustin Johnson in playoff

Jon Rahm’s 66-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole helps him beat Dustin Johnson.

Jon Rahm sent a simple message to Dustin Johnson on the first hole of their sudden-death playoff at the BMW Championship on Sunday: whatever you could do, I could do better.

Moments earlier, Rahm was standing on the practice range preparing for a playoff while Johnson, a shot back, was lining up a 43-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole. Johnson miraculously holed it, sending the two top players in the world back to the 18th tee to decide who would be the champion at Olympia Fields.

Johnson hit his approach into the 18th during the playoff safely to the center of the green. Rahm, though, was in the rough off the tee and could only play his second shot to the far left of the green, 66-feet away and a difficult two-putt for par. The advantage was clearly on Johnson’s side.

But Rahm carefully studied the putt, calculated the break and the speed, and struck it perfectly. It rolled up to the ridge that divides the green, the same one Johnson had to putt over in regulation, took a hard left-to-right break, and fell right into the center of the cup for the most improbable birdie. It was the longest putt Rahm had made all season, and when Johnson missed his birdie attempt, the Spaniard was a champion on the PGA Tour for the fifth time (second this season).

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“Honestly, I hoped it would be a decent putt for par coming back and hopefully have a chance to keep the playoff going,” Rahm admitted to NBC’s Steve Sands afterward. “Luckily, it just looked really, really good on the way and when it had 10 feet to go, man, it was tracking beautifully. I could hardly believe it.”

Dustin Johnson almost became the champion on Sunday

Rahm emerged victorious in the playoff after both he and Johnson finished the tournament at four-under. But it never should’ve been that way. During the third round on Saturday, Rahm was four-over for the week playing the fifth hole. He absent-mindedly picked up his ball on the green without marking it, incurring a one-stroke penalty and forcing him to make a six-footer just to save bogey and fall to five-over. It would be the last bogey he would make all week. The old Rahm, who had the reputation of a bit of a hot-head on tour, would’ve let it affect him. Not this year, though.

Rahm played his final 31 holes in nine-under. His six-under round of 64 on Sunday was the best of any player this week. He’ll head to the Tour Championship, the final event of the FedEx Cup playoffs, in second place in the standings behind Johnson and in prime position to win the $15 million prize. All because he was able to put that big blunder behind him.

“I just tried not to think about it,” he said. “I had such a good round yesterday and I was so proud of making the six-footer for bogey that it just went right through my mind and focused on the task at hand.”

For Johnson, Rahm’s putt denied him the chance to win on tour for the second straight week. Last Sunday at The Northern Trust, he lapped the field and won by 11 shots at 30-under. He was also runner-up at the PGA Championship in his previous start.

The World No. 1 is in top form and, with a two-shot lead to start the Tour Championship, must be considered the favorite to win the FedEx Cup for the first time. But on Sunday at Olympia Fields, it was Rahm’s time, all thanks to a putt that will be replayed for the rest of his career.