The Spanish Olympic Committee announced it to the International Golf Federation. So it’s official now. Jorge Campillo will be the replacement of Jon Rahm at the Tokyo Games. The Basque tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time in less than two months and despite being vaccinated with the Janssen single dose.
Thus, they will be Adri Arnaus and Campillo who will represent Spanish golf at the Kasumigaseki course from Thursday July 29 to August 1 in stroke play format. It is thus discarded Santiago Tarrío, who kept options to go until the last moment due to an interpretation of the Olympic ranking that designated him as a substitute. Finally it will be the Extremaduran Campillo.
Before it was official, Campillo, 35, he had already done the first of the PCRs that he needs to insert himself into the Olympic bubble. He is 199 in the world ranking and has two victories on the European Tour (Qatar 2020 and Morocco 2019).
Without Rahm, a clear medal option leaves. The case The US Open champion is strange and it is not the first time that the COVID cut an illusion to Barrika. The previous positive was communicated to him at the end of the penultimate day of the Memorial, when he was leading. Rahm burst into tears. Another of his dreams was to be an Olympic champion, an idea that had been in his head since it practically became professionals.
DeChambeau, also positive
In addition to Rahm’s discharge, he has also tested positive for COVID American Bryson DeChambeau, another superstar, who will be replaced by Patrick Reed. America’s wardrobe is unlimited. These two absences remove some of the cache from a tournament that Dustin Johnson, world number two, had already resigned.
Yes there will be other great figures like Matsuyama, Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy… All set in Kasumigaseki for the second round of Olympic golf this century. In Rio 2016 it was already, and Justin Rose won, absent in Tokyo.
