Jon Rahm, back to forget the first day of the PGA: 76 strokes

He No. 1 in the world, leader of the FedEx Cup and champion of the Augusta Masters in April Jon Rahm It got a bit derailed this Thursday on the first day of PGA Championship within Oak Hill Country Clubin Rochester, New Yorkwhere night frost delayed the start of the round for nearly two hours, with a card of 76 shots, six over par, 10 behind the home-club leader, the 2020 US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau (66). The world number 2 scottie scheffler and the canadian Corey Conners they shared second place in a coup. A complete failure for the Basque, whose continuation this Friday in the tournament is severely compromised. However, he always maintained the Jon type and tried to build the result in the face of so many difficulties.

Jon starts the 10th hole and honestly couldn’t have started the round better, with a tee shot down the middle of the fairway, and then the second to the green about 7 meters away to hole the putt and first birdie of the day (the second didn’t reach 8, which was the 17th of his lap). However, two clear options on 12 and 14 slowed him down a bit and bogeys came on the last three holes -three missed fairways- in this second part of the course the Basque covered in 2 hours and 50 minutes! In total, about 5 and a half hours in the field.

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In the second part of the original layout of Donald Ross -the East Course-, which underwent the last remodeling compared to the 2013 PGA -holes 5, 6 and 15 are brand new-, the first nine holes, the decoration has hardly changed for Rahm: two early bogeys and a very clear birdie option on the only par 5, 4, of this round, that he missed. A pair hurt and ultimately did a lot of damage: bogey on 6, double bogey on 7, repairing birdie on 8 for a final 76 (+6).

This is the seventh PGA for Rahm, who debuted in 2017 with an even-par 58th. He finished 4th ex aequo in 2018 – his best finish so far in the tournament -, missed the cut in 2019, tied for 13th in 2020, tied for 8th in 2021 and tied for 48th in 2022 .

From the rest of the Spanish in the morning (local time) Adrian Otaegui signed 75 blows and adri arnaus like his friend Rahm, 76.

Rahm started the ninth group from the 10th tee, along with the 2022 US Open champion, the British Matt Fitzpatrickand the Australian cameron smith (72) -now at LIV-, champion of the British Open in 2022, with a temperature of 7 degrees in this second ‘major’ of the year.

Two other groups stood up in this morning’s session, the sa Brooks Koepkawho along with another member of LIV Golf, Phil Mickelson, finished second in the Masters 4 shots behind Rahm, played three groups ahead in the company of the world number two scottie scheffler and Gary Woodlandwinner of the US Open in 2019.

Scheffler, who will wrest the number 1 from Barrika if he wins the tournament -even a top 3 is worth it-, played excellent golf, taking advantage of his birdie options and solving with solvency the complex situations he experienced in the course. About an hour and a half later, DeChambeau, another of the LIV movers, came in with a solid -4 card.

This trio was followed by another level formed by the defending champion Justin Thomas (72)number three in the world Rory McIlroy (71)winner of two PGAs, and two-time champion of a ‘big’ Colin Morikawa (71). Rory knows how to suffer and an incredibly saved par putt on hole 2 (his 11th) was the turning point on the world number 3 card. +1 has to be delicious. There are still many tournaments left.

fine white coat

Thomas equaled the biggest comeback in the fourth round of what is considered the younger brother of the Grand Slams last year, when he overcame a 7-shot deficit at Southern Hills before lifting the Wanamaker Trophy in a three-hole playoff against Will Zalatoris (no this year due to injury).

With low temperatures in the early morning, Oak Hill was covered in a fine white layer until sunny skies gave a healthier look to the course that has hosted three PGA games, three US Opens and the most memorable Ryder Cup in history. this. 1995 with Europe’s victory by a point and a Seve Ballesteros who, even at low times, morally led a team that turned the point in the singles on the last day. Unrepeatable images of the ill-fated Cantabrian ace and Nick Faldo hugging and crying with emotion on the 18th hole green.

Oak Hill has undergone redevelopment since last hosting the PGA Championship in 2013 and this week the par 70 course is a challenging tee-to-green test with narrow fairways, deep rough and steep bunkers. This Thursday is very complicated, difficult and very difficult.

Rahm, 7-1 in betting, who won the 2021 US Open and added a second Grand Slam last month at Augusta National, is looking to become the sixth golfer in the past 70 years to win the first two. this year’s ‘majors’ Masters and PGA, previously Masters and Open USA).

Jordan Spieth (73)in his seventh attempt to complete the coveted Grand Slam, also got off the 10th tee, along with Irishman Shane Lowry (73) and Norwegian Victor Hovland (68). Spieth arrived at Oak Hill with fitness concerns after a left wrist injury forced him to withdraw before playing last week’s Byron Nelson in McKinney, Texas.

Among the matches of the afternoon session, Phil Mickelson, this PGA champion in 2021 at the age of 53 and winner of six ‘big’ games, started the 15:48 group (21:48 on the Peninsula) from on the 10th tee with his compatriots Patrick Cantlay and Rickie Fowler. At 9:37 pm, Xander Schauffele, Dustin Johnson and Tyrrell Hatton hit the ball off the tee.

Pablo Larrazábal, winner three weeks ago in Korea at the age of 40, was the only one of four Spaniards with an afternoon time.

Classification (home-club players):

Par 70

66 Bryson DeChambeau (USA)

67 Scottie Scheffler (USA)

Corey Conners (Can)

68 Ryan Fox (NZL)

Viktor Hovland (Nor)

Keegan Bradley (USA)

…

71 Rory McIlroy (GBR)

72 Cameron Smith (Aus)

Justin Thomas (USA)

Brooks Koepka (USA)

73 Jordan Spieth (USA)

75 Adrian Otaegui (Span)

76 Jon Rahm (Span)

Adri Arnaus (Span)