In that unequal race, which is not necessarily unfair, which is the Tour Championship, Jon Rahm fulfilled this Thursday. The Biscayan consumed a first round of -3 at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta (USA) to open his participation in the PGA final. He started at -3, seven behind the leader of the FedEx Cup before this last round of the playoffs, the American Scottie Scheffler, who yesterday took the bar to -15 with -5 on the day. A strong first move from the Texan.
Rahmbo signed birdies at 3, 6 and 8, with a bogey at 7 as a brake, for the first nine holes. In the second half of the course he subtracted twice, at 16 and 18, following suffering a setback at 14, as in the seventh following failing the fairway, and that is that his only problems came from the tee. For the rest, he took greens and kicked well, confirming the good feelings he already left in the BMW. He’s gotten his stats back to positive numbers on the greens lately, and that’s great news because it’s the putter that makes the difference for a player with as much power from tee to green as he does. A good sample was the 15th, par 3 in which it did not go to the water by a miracle. His chip was not decisive, but his putt from five meters was, when it came to saving the three.
The great movements of the day were carried out by the Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick, current US Open champion, who scored -6 for -9 with an eagle at 18 included and soon got to the head of the pack, and the Chilean Joaquín Niemann, with a fairly busy lap: birdie-bogey-birdie started and ended with another -6. He also subtracted twice in the last hole of the day. Xander Schauffele, who has a knack for East Lake, also made a statement with his -3 for -9. Patrick Cantlay, who started with -8 in second position, was hitting a little bump, with +2, until he also plugged in for eagle on 18, which at the moment is very friendly. Scheffler, who played with the Californian, found the same result.
The biggest share of fun was put by Rory McIlroy, who only scored three pairs on the card. the northern irish He covered the entire course, as they say, but he finished with a good taste in his mouth: -3 this Friday and -7 in total following eight birdies, an eagle, a triple bogey and four bogeys. 28 ‘hounds’ (Zalatoris withdrew days before the start due to injury) have begun the hunt for Scheffler, whose pulse is not trembling at the moment.
