In this ‘Match-Play’ World Cup, Jon Rahm is showing the two sides of his golf. Both a sublime game, which on Thursday allowed him to reach the last group stage with full options, and another vulgar one that today made him fall spectacularly against Billy Horschel (5 and 4) and be eliminated from the tournament. He did not make a single ‘birdie’ throughout the day and thus it is very difficult to stand up to the best players on the planet. When playing one-on-one it’s very dangerous not to present a reliable offense because you can’t cover bad shots with recoveries a few holes later; on the contrary, the mistakes are smelled by the rival and goes straight for the jugular whenever he can.
The Florida man (36 years old) already won this event in Austin two years ago and he was not going to miss the opportunity to take advantage of a bad moment for the Spanish. Especially when a double ‘bogey’ on hole 2 was already beginning to reveal the problems of the Biscayan: if it doesn’t work on the ‘greens’ all his game suffers. And, although he continued to battle in an exercise of self-respect, as soon as the return flags arrived, the problems increased.
Rahm blew his ball off the 9th tee two down, which against a less experienced opponent than Billy might have been solvable. But it was not the case. In the next two, the veteran pulled out the knife and was placed with four up and seven holes to play. At another time, a reaction from the Basque could have been expected, an incredible comeback of those that are later written in the history of sports. But it was not his day. Neither the most recalcitrant followers of his (nor he himself) trusted her with the dynamics that led the day.
However, on the 14th hole Jon still narrowed down his options. He hit a missile into the tee lane, while his opponent went into the rough on the right. However, he came out of the trance well and hit a good shot that ended up seven meters from the flag. Even so, Rahm left her a meter closer, but an unexpected ‘birdie’ from Billy left the game seen for judgment much sooner than imagined. Five down with four holes to play is a result that no one would have dared to bet on before.
Worst of all, with his goodbye, the options of including a Spaniard in the World Cup list of winners are over, something that has never happened and will never happen, since this is the last tournament with that name. The indolence of the players, the economic problems, the pandemic and the arrival of LIV Golf have put an end to a brilliant idea that began in 1999 and that leaves Tiger Woods as its great historical dominator, with 18 wins.
:quality(85)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/EFYFXXTOOEG44UVYWY5B35D724.jpg?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1)
