Jon Rahm, champion in 2018 and 2019, and number 6 in the world, did not disappoint on the first day of the Spanish Open at the Club de Campo de Madrid: 64 shots, seven under par, and provisional second place, with six birdies , an eagle and a bogey, one behind the leader, the Chinese Wu, with 63 strokes and 8 birdies without fail.
Jon Rahm, results
The Basque played in the morning shift and came out on the 10th hole. He could not have had a better start to the tournament when he holed the birdie from about three meters. In the 14th, par 5, he planted the ball in twos about ten meters from the flag, a slightly downhill putt, which ended with the ball in the pot and the eagle on Barrika’s card.
He closed his first 9 holes with birdies at 17 and 18 from about two and four meters, for five under par in the middle of this initial round. On hole 1 came the only blur of the day, a bogey-5. He missed far to the right of the hole, he had to play the fairway and from three on the green he made two putts.
In the 4, par 5, he left it ‘given’ from the bunker and in the 5 he did not miss from two meters. Total, that he got -6 in the table. On the way to the end, he took a bad second shot on the 8th hole: the ball stayed in the rough to the right of the flag, with a complicated stance, but Jon pulled out the magic and played a great chip that ended with the ball inside the hole.
and the applause of the large audience that followed his match. He was the sixth birdie of the day. At 9, par 3 (his 18) he fell short of the flag and with two putts for par he went to eat with a round of 64 shots (-7), one behind the leader at the clubhouse.
“It always helps to start the day with a birdie, and then I’ve made a few more that have given me confidence. I finished the Wentworth PGA with a great lap and I’ve come back with another great lap here,” Rahm said in the mixed zone.
Much worse went to his friend and runner-up of the Open in 2021, Adri Arnaus, 76 strokes (+5) and it is very difficult to make the cut this Friday, if not almost impossible.