Jon Rahm has begun its participation in the Match Play World Cup with a painful defeat against Rickie Fowler that compromises their chances of advancing to the playoffs of the tournament that takes place at the Austin Country Club. for now, He no longer depends on himself as he needs at least one Fowler defeat in his two remaining duels.
The one from Barrika He started in an excellent way, winning holes 1 and 3, but by 12 he was already behind on the scoreboard. after two erratic and consecutive visits to the greens in which he added six putts. A bogey on the 15th opened a dangerous and, ultimately, unrecoverable gap of two holes that made the dispute on the 18th unnecessary. In the end, 9.5 to 7.5 (2&1) for Fowler.
The American has not lifted a trophy for more than four years -has not won since the Waste Management Phoenix Open, in February 2019-, but in recent tournaments he has shown he is in shape with a thirteenth place in The Players, a tenth in the Phoenix Open and an eleventh in the Farmers Insurance Open.
He was an awkward opponent and Rahm is not as fine as a few weeks agowhen all the pieces fit together like a perfect mechanism that led him to win three tournaments in just six weeks and, incidentally, to recover the number 1 in the world.
Rahm, that made his World Match Play debut with an unforgettable final against Dustin Johnson in 2017will play this Thursday against Keith Mitchell, at 4:26 p.m. Spanish time. Mitchell achieved a worked draw against Billy Horschel so the Spaniard will say goodbye to the tournament prematurely if he loses to the golfer from Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The Match Play World Cup is played by 64 players divided into 16 groups in which everyone plays against everyone and only the winners of each bracket access the final playoffs. Rahm did it last year but went down with Brooks Koepka in the round of 16.
