Jon Rahm lives a day to forget at the start of the British Open

2023-07-20 22:31:48

The Spanish golfer Jon Rahm, number 3 in the world, suffered a day to forget, on the first day of the British Open that he completed with a card of 74 shots (3 over par) at the Royal Liverpool Club that They place him very far from the top of the classification led by the South African Christo Lamprecht, the British Tommy Fleetwood and the Argentine Emiliano Grillo, with five under par.

Rahm got bogged down from the start of the round heading out to the first hole with a shot into the tall grass that he later amended to finish even. The first six holes were all even, with some compromised moments, especially in the tee-offs that he was able to correct, but the seventh ended with a bogey that gave him +1.

The eighth and ninth were also even and it was not until the tenth that he managed to make another birdie, which started to the worst game moments of the tour, getting to make another three bogeys -hole 12 (after his ball hit a spectator), 16 and 18 (when he was forced to play backwards in a bunker, as had already happened in hole 12)- that made him finish with 74 shots and with the main objective right now of make the cut on the second day, something compromised by his debut.

Jon Rahm’s playing partners were the Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy, winner of the 2014 edition and who came to this event after winning the Scottish Open, and the British Justin Rose, number 32 in the world and who knows what it is like to be close to victory in this tournament, in which he was second in 2018. McIlroy completed a rather irregular course that he corrected on holes fourteen and fifteen with two birdies that made him finish even, quite the opposite of Rose, who finished with 74 (+3).

Adrián Otaegui, one blow from the head trio

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In the rest of Spaniards, Adrián Otaegui from Gipuzkoa stood out above all, who was one shot behind the trio of leaders, with a sensational round of 67 shots, thanks to his six birdies, for just two bogeys. Pablo Larrazabal, with 72 strokes, was one above par for the course, the same as Nacho Elvira.

The amateur Josele Ballester signed a card of 73, two over par. Alejandro Cañizares made one more shot and finished with +4. Jorge Campillo, with +8, and Adrià Arnaus, with +11, sank to the last positions and will most likely be left out of the cut.