Lee and now world No.5 Rahm played all four rounds together at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid and vowed to give the parochial fans a Sunday to remember.

Starting just one stroke back, Lee managed to keep pace courtesy of a hole-out from off the green for eagle at the par-5 seventh and was two back at the turn as Rahm began to take control.

Seeking to join Seve Ballesteros as a three-time winner of Spain’s national Open, the former world No.1 found deep rough with his tee shot at the par-4 10th but piloted a testing seven-footer home for par to maintain his advantage.

At the par-3 11th, both Lee and Rahm left themselves huge putts across the green for birdie. Rahm watched Lee’s, from over 50 feet, finish close enough for a guaranteed par before stepping up and draining his own from 35 feet to extend his advantage to three shots.

The cushion came in handy at the 12th, Rahm’s drive finished deep in the trees on the left and led to a bogey – his first dropped shot since the 11th hole on Friday.

But normal service was resumed at the 13th, Rahm’s drive splitting the fairway and a flick from just over 100 yards to seven feet setting up his sixth birdie of the day.

There was little Lee could do and it was all but over when they walked off the 14th. Rahm almost managed an albatross, only the pace of the ball kept it from dropping when his second shot, from the rough more than 200 yards away, hammered into the bottom of the pin and skidded off. But an eagle and Lee’s bogey meant the gap was six shots with four holes to play.

Two birdies in his final three holes took Frenchman Matthieu Pavon (65) above Lee (68) but it was all about Rahm (62) and he finished with a flourish, birdies at 17 and 18 adding the gloss to his eighth DP World Tour victory.

Projected to move up from No.73 to No.65 in the Official World Golf Ranking, Lee’s top-three finish is his best result in almost a year and sets up a strong finish to the DP World Tour season.

It was a top-10 a long time coming too for Jason Day at the PGA TOUR’s Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas.

One-over through six holes after starting the day tied for 23rd, Day roared home with nine birdies in his final 12 holes for a closing eight-under 63 and tie for eighth, his best result since February at the Farmers Insurance Open.

Lucas Herbert (68, T20) and Cam Davis (71, T37) both lost ground in the final round as Harrison Endycott (70, T69) played all four rounds for the second time in his burgeoning PGA TOUR career.

Gabriela Ruffels’ tie for 11th at the Epson Tour Championship was not enough to secure one of the 10 LPGA Tour cards up for grabs, Grace Kim finishing fifth to rubber-stamp her promotion in 2023.

Ahead of his long-awaited return to Australian shores Marc Leishman finished tied for 10th at the LIV Golf Invitational Bangkok in Thailand and Elvis Smylie secured a spot at Second Stage of DP World Tour Qualifying School, tied for second at the First Stage event in England.

Results

PGA TOUR
Shriners Children’s Open
TPC Summerlin, Las Vegas, Nevada
Winner Tom Kim             65-67-62-66—260           $1.44m
T8          Jason Day           66-71-66-63—266           $242,000
T20        Lucas Herbert    67-70-65-68—270           $81,500
T37        Cam Davis          67-66-68-71—272           $36,457
T69        Harrison Endycott           67-71-69-70—277           $16,560
MC        Danny Lee (NZ)  71-72—143
MC        Ryan Ruffels      77-71—148

Japan Golf Tour
For The Players By The Players
THE RAYSUM, Gunma
Modified Stableford scoring
Winner Shintaro Kobayashi        9-11-13-8—41   ¥10m
T17        Michael Hendry (NZ)      7-(-2)-8-11—24 ¥735,000
T57        Andrew Evans   3-2-8-(-4)—9     ¥117,250
T59        Anthony Quayle              2-9-(-3)-0—8     ¥115,000
T61        Matthew Griffin              7-2-(-5)-(-1)—3 ¥113,000
MC        Adam Bland       1-2—3

DP World Tour
Open de Espana
Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Winner Jon Rahm           64-68-65-62—259           €297,500
3            Min Woo Lee     67-65-66-68—266           €110,250
T62        Maverick Antcliff             69-69-75-70—283           €5,075
MC        Zach Murray      74-68—142
MC        Jason Scrivener 71-72—143

LPGA Tour
LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship
The Saticoy Club, Somis, California
Winner Jodi Ewart Shadoff          64-69-69-71—273           $US270,000
T32        Karis Davidson  72-73-69-70—284           $10,219
T32        Sarah Kemp       72-72-69-71—284           $10,219
T66        Stephanie Kyriacou         72-70-71-77—290           $3,913
MC        Sarah Jane Smith             71-75—146
MC        Su Oh    77-73—150

Challenge Tour
British Challenge
St Mellion Estate, Cornwall, England
Winner Euan Walker      71-66-72-71—280           €41,953.32
T11        Daniel Hillier      69-72-66-79—286           €4,064.23
MC        Blake Windred  72-81—153

Epson Tour
Epson Tour Championship
LPGA International (Jones Cse), Daytona Beach, Florida
Winner Jaravee Boonchant         67-64-68-66—265           $US37,500
T11        Gabriela Ruffels 67-68-67-69—271           $4,409
T11        Amelia Garvey (NZ)         67-66-69-69—271           $4,409
T20        Robyn Choi        68-69-66-70—273           $3,073
MC        Soo Jin Lee         73-69—142
MC        Hira Naveed       70-73—143
MC        Grace Kim           70-75—145

LIV Golf
LIV Golf Invitational Bangkok
Stonehill Golf Club, Bangkok, Thailand
Winner Eugenio Chacarra           65-63-69—197  $US4m
T10        Marc Leishman 66-69-70—205  $477,500
T15        Matt Jones         71-70-66—207  $233,600
T20        Jediah Morgan  67-69-72—208  $174,285
T27        Wade Ormsby   70-68-71—209  $157,000
T41        Cameron Smith 72-70-70—212  $131,000

Champions Tour
Constellation Furyk and Friends
Timuquana Country Club, Jacksonville, Florida
Winner Steve Stricker    69-64-69—202  $US300,000
T49        John Senden      80-71-67—218  $6,200
T57        Robert Allenby  75-72-73—220  $3,700
T63        Rod Pampling    74-73-74—221  $2,700
T76        Stuart Appleby  75-76-78—229  $1,120

DP World Tour
Qualifying School Stage 1
Champneys Mottram Hall, Mottram St Andrew, Cheshire, England
Winner Takumi Kanaya  71-69-66-67—273           €2,280.07
T2          Elvis Smylie        67-70-71-67—275           €1,311.04

Golf d’Hardelot, Hardelot, France
Winner William Harrold 68-68-68-69—273           €2,280.07
MC        Lazim Medini (a)             84-76-72—232