Questioned after his demonstration on Thursday, Jon Rahm did not hide his satisfaction at having taken the advantage over his main rivals from the first round at Bay Hill.
“It was an amazing round of golfsaid the Basque at the end of the recording. I wish they were all as nice as this one. »
Three entry birdies immediately set the tone.
His hair-raising endgame with an eagle and two birdies allowed him to pass the winner of the Honda Classic last Sunday, Chris Kirkand second-place subscriber Cameron Young.
It’s only the first day. Ask me that on Sunday if I keep playing like that, and I’ll probably change my answer
Jon Rahm
If we look at the stats, we must emphasize that all is not perfect. Rahm only hit 8 of 14 fairways and had to save par with a putt from just over 10 yards on the 15th.
“If you go through all my shots, you’ll see a lot of mistakes, recognized world number 1. I minimized the impact of my bad shots and optimized my opportunities to convert some situations into very good scores. But it can always be better. »
In the footsteps of Johnny Miller’s record
Perfectible Rahm? The already triple winner on the PGA Tour in 2023 is above all ultra dominating. In the event of a 4th success before the start of April, he would be the second player in history to achieve such a start to the season.
Only Johnny Miller in 1974 managed to win 4 times as quickly in the year.
“It’s only the first day. Ask me that on Sunday if I keep playing like that, and I’ll probably change my answer. »
Insurmountable delay for Rory?
Rahm is two strokes ahead of his first pursuers but the gap with his two rivals for the world number 1 spot has certainly not escaped him.
Scottie Scheffler points in 5th position, 3 shots away, while the advantage taken over Rory McIlroy is much more consistent since the Northern Irishman is already 8 strokes behind.
The winner of the FedEx Cup 2022 is no longer quite the same as at the end of last year. If his victory in Dubai in January had delighted observers, Rory had made no secret of not being completely satisfied with his performance.
In particular by evoking the relatively low quality of its face-offs.
Thursday, he only hit six fairways and almost lost a stroke on the rest of the field in this compartment of the game. His putting was also weak.
There is no doubt that his extra-sporting obligations certainly have repercussions on his mind, and consequently on his productions on the course.
