Rahm finished his TPC debut under par but was a far cry from the head

Jon Rahm there was a start to the tournament that a serious aspirant would hope to win in consideration ‘fifth’ Grand Slamhe The Players Championship within TPC Sawgrass Stadium Coursein Ponte Vedra Beach (Florida): 71 shots (-1), with two birdies and one bogey, in the provisional top 20 and 7 shots behind the home-club leader, the American Chad Ramey (64, -8). Collin Morikawa, no doubt an old acquaintance and one he already beat this year (last day of the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii), finished second with a 65 (-7). The two parties with the Spanish, head and tail: scottie schefflerworld number 2, hit 68 shots (-4) and Rory McIlroyNo. 3 in the ranking, 76 (+4).

The Basque was not in trouble, he solved some mistakes well (on the penultimate hole he did not remove the stain of the round with a bogey-4) although it is true that he could have taken more birdies from the course but at least he did he is the maximum count that if you don’t win the tournament on the first day, you can lose instead. And Jon was there.

The Basque birdied for the 10th and it took him seven holes to get the first birdie of the day. It was on 16, the second par 5 of the second round, when he put his second shot on the green after a good drive, leaving a clear option for eagle, but he missed the 4-meter putt he has After saving par from the high grass collar on 17, the famous par 3 with a green-island, Rahm left another good birdie opportunity on 18 that he took advantage of this time and went to the ball inside the pot from about 3.5 meters.

On his second nine holes, the first on the Pete Dye-designed course, Rahm made all pars, with more than two clear birdie opportunities missed, until hole 8, the penultimate hole of his round, a par where he missed the green, the ball He sank into the rough, made a good approach but missed the 2.5-meter putt to save. On the 9th, par 5, he reached the green in two shots but ended up with three putts and a tie for second.

Note that Jon is the third player to face what is considered the ‘fifth’ Grand Slam, with 25 million dollars in prizes, as world number one and leader of the FedEx Cup. The previous ones were Dustin Johnson (2017), who finished the tournament tied for 12th , and Tiger Woods on two occasions: 2013 (he ended up winning it) and 2007 (tied for 37th).

Rahm’s best finish at Sawgrass is tied for 9th in 2021, playing the TPC five times and throwing a 72.55 stroke average. The Basque did not hide that he will be especially excited to win this tournament, which will be his fourth win of the season after the Tournament of Champions, American Express and Genesis Invitational. No one until Jon has won three tournaments before March 1 since Johnnie Miller in 1974.

The best results of Spanish golfers at Ponte Vedra Beach were Sergio García’s victory in 2008, the 2nd solo for the man from Castellón last year, the runner-up tie in 2015, and the 3rd solo in 2014, and the third ex. aequos for Severiano Ballesteros in 1984 and Txema Olazábal in 2007.