2021 U.S. Open: Jon Rahm emerges from a pack of superstars as best of them all at Torrey Pines

There could only be one champion at Torrey Pines, and the world's most consistent golfer pulled through

LA JOLLA, Calif. -- Jon Rahm has been the most consistently great golfer in the world for most of the last half-decade, and now he has a trophy to prove it. After winning the 2021 U.S. Open about as dramatically as one can win a major championship, Rahm's reality finally fell flush with the expectations that were foisted upon him as a 20-year-old wunderkind at Arizona State. Rahm is 26, so it's not as if an entire career of missed opportunities had passed him by, but when Phil Mickelson once bet a healthy amount of money on you to move from outside the top 700 to inside the top 10 in a 12-month span, it's safe to say that backdoor top 10s at major championships are not going to cut it. Coming into the week, Rahm had stacked up a bevy of them. Seven in 19 career major starts. But he was not truly in contention for any of those titles late on a Sunday when it's legacy time and everybody brings whatever they have in the weapons chamber to one final melee.