Jon Rahm has arrived at the US Open in 2021 against the clock after testing positive and quarantining for Covid-19. The mental blow of having to leave ‘The Memorial’ when he was a solid leader and not being able to prepare the third major of the year in the best conditions has also had as a compensation that the Barrika player (26 years old) has worked the psychological part, the one that sometimes is not valued if everything flows in a positive way.
The world number 2 has arrived in his beloved San Diego with the clear premise of going step by step and in this specific tournament and in this field of Torrey Pines that means knowing that the line is to risk only in specific moments and that the objective of each hole is to make par. The US Open is difficult to win in double digits, but the possibilities of bogeying or double bogeying almost any hole on the California field are proliferating. On the other hand, reducing blows is an arduous task and of continuous work.
Rahm finished fifth the opening day with -2 Y in the second he followed the same line of continuous pairs seasoned with 3 birdies (holes 6, 14 and 18) and two errors in the form of bogeys in the 5 and 13 to sign 70 strokes, -1 in the day and -3 in the total , and reach the final two days perfectly situated in search of the big goal: to win his first major, to give Spain a tournament that he has never won and, if Dustin Johnson does not finish in the top 18 (he is now 46th with +2) to return to number one in the world ranking. In the absence of completing the second day, he is within two strokes of the leader, the Englishman Richard Bland, who achieved a sensational -4 on the day.
Less fortunate was Sergio García, who turned a pair card on the first day to a -3 in the middle of the tournament that in principle does not compromise to pass the cut, but that already takes him away from the places of honor. For its part, Rafa Cabrera, who delighted in the initial tour by signing a -3 goes out to the field in the evening in California, early in the morning in Spain.
