Not a trace of COVID has remained on the body of Jon Rahm. At least if we judge by his performance in the first two rounds of the US Open. The Basque, who was expelled from the Memorial two weeks ago for a positive, closed them in the top-5 with a -2 on Thursday and a -1 on Friday for -3 in total. Sensational card that took him to the weekend in a position that could hardly be improved to try to tie his first major.
Rahmbo was looking for his ‘killer’ instinct in a fetish field for him, Torrey Pines (San Diego, USA). The one that everyone knows he has but that for now has not appeared in the four appointments that mark the calendar. We have seen occasional outbursts, such as the three top-10s in a row in Augusta, fourth place in the 2018 PGA or third in the US Open at Pebble Beach in 2019, but never the complete fireworks. And in the absence of 18 holes, it seems that this US Open may still be the one with fireworks.
A frustrating mistake drove the Basque from the head as he reached the final stretch of a very solid lap that until then only had two meanders: the bogey in the eighth and the birdie in the tenth. Rahm had been kicking badly all day and it took up to three hits to hole out on the 14th green. That cost him a painful double bogey, but he did not derail and managed to partially correct it at par 5 of 18. He was three shots behind Henley, the firm leader who came out at -5 and finished the same.
But now he is escorted at the top by the South African Oosthuizen, winner of the British in 2010 who already fought in the last Masters, and the Canadian Hughes, a solid man from tee to green without great victories for now. Behind comes the cavalry with DeChambeau and McIlroy, who scored -3 and -4 respectively on the day of movement to stand with -3 in total, lurking.
The other two Spaniards who have traveled to California did not have their best afternoon, Sergio garcia and Rafa Cabrera Bello. Borriol’s shot a +2 to +5 with a devastating double bogey on par 5 of 13 and the canary went to +3 for the same total result with three bogeys and not a single birdie on his account.
