Jon Rahm said yesterday that if he could put in a solid round he would expect to end the day with the lead. No sooner said than done. Stealing shots from the course on the three par fives at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid (holes 4, 7 and 14) is like taking candy from a baby for the Barrika native. On Thursday and Friday though, the trees prevented him from exploiting them. Today he birdied all three, despite the fact that he missed the green in two on the first two and just found the fringe on the 14th. The bad luck he endured on the first two days evaporated today. Take the 7th hole, for example; the marshal indicated that his ball had come to rest against a tree and the Spaniard couldn’t believe it had happened again. He cursed his luck as he approached the ball, this time though, the golfing gods were smiling on him. He had a shot and he capitalised with a birdie.
When Rahm has his way with the par 5s it is practically game over for the rest of the field. As we mentioned yesterday, it is almost unheard of for the Spaniard to have two bad rounds on the bounce. Yesterday, he avoided disaster through grit and determination and today he took the lead because he is pure class. Watching him in the flesh, you would be excused for thinking the man never makes a bogey. He barely missed a fairway, reduced the course to a pitch and putt and didn’t miss a thing with a wedge in his hand. It doesn’t matter if he is in thick rough, as he was on the 1st and 2nd, or if he comes up short on the par-3 3rd. The shot he played to save par there was one of the best of the day. With the green running away from him, he opened the face of his 60-degree wedge to the sky, floated the ball to a few feet and let gravity do the rest. Gimme.
The only part of Rahm’s game that is not firing on all cylinders is, once again, his putting. From 10 to 20 feet, the ball simply does not want to drop. When they do decide to go in, he is capable of going on a run like he did at Wentworth, where he posted a course record-equalling 10 under par. Most of the time when he is holing those putts he will shoot somewhere in the low 60s. So far at this year’s ACCIONA Open de España presented by Madrid, he hasn’t needed to, but there have been signs it might happen, such as his putt today on the 11th.
The icing on the cake of his 65 came on the 18th. He launched a driver 304 yards up the hill to 5 metres, much to the delight of the Spanish fans surrounding the green. His eagle putt came to rest two inches from the hole, but a birdie was enough to give him the lead on his own at 16 under par.
Of course, this is sport and, above all, it’s golf, but it is hard to see anyone other than the Spaniard lifting the trophy tomorrow. The par for this course is different for him compared to the rest of the field (his average score is 66.5 at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid), he has already had his ‘bad’ round and at some point the putts that have refused to do so all year will start to find the bottom of the cup. Min Woo Lee looks like the only player who may be able to stop him from equalling Seve’s haul of three Open de España trophies. It would be a huge upset though; when Rahmbo sets his mind on something he is a hard man to stop. All will be revealed on Sunday afternoon.
After a delightful 65 (-6), Jon Rahm spoke to the press about his round on day three, which he finished with a one-shot lead at the ACCIONA Open de España presented by Madrid.
Perfectly placed going into Sunday:
“Yes, I’m where I wanted to be, but it would be great to be a few more shots ahead. It really has been a good day of golf, I can’t ask for much more. I played very well, but I wasn’t the only one, so it would have been difficult to run away from the pack. Today was the only one of the three days on which I played all 18 holes well, because yesterday it was just seven, and on Thursday it was nine, so I’m hoping to have another good 18 tomorrow”.
You made it look like it was easy for you:
“It was tidy. It’s a shame I didn’t hole more putts on the front nine that I hit well, but I played tidily. When I missed, it was on the good side and only just, such as with the birdies on the 1st and 4th or a lot of the easy pars with good up and downs when I missed the green. But golf is never easy, even though it might look it when you are that tidy”.
Playing with Min Woo Lee all four days and the 11th looking like matchplay between them:
“On that hole, what I thought is that I finally saw the break clearly, I knew that it was a foot to the right and it went in. It’s true that when he holed out first and then congratulated me on the birdie, it can seem like matchplay because he was the leader. I think I have played with the same player all four days before, but I don’t think I have when playing for the title, as we will be tomorrow”.
Playing the 18th from the forward tee:
“We knew it would be played from that tee at the weekend, I imagine it’s a request from the organisers to make it more spectacular, but it doesn’t change much for me, I play from wherever they put me and try to make a birdie regardless. For me, it may be better there, because it’s the perfect distance for a good drive, without forcing it, especially if it comes out like it did today, which was perfect”.
The ovation on the way to the 18th green:
“They started very early, I was over 100 metres away… (laughs). It was incredible, even more so if it happens on a Sunday, when you know you’ve won, like I did in 2019. It’s the best walk you can have in golf, hopefully I can repeat it tomorrow”.
Possible winning score tomorrow:
“Well, -26 would definitely win, but I don’t have a number in mind to win. It really depends on how they prepare the course, because if they make it really hard a -3 or -4 might be enough. If I were three shots back, then I’d set myself a target, but as the leader all I have to think about is to go as low as possible.
