The good feelings from Thursday went up in smoke on Friday. Nothing went right. He played poorly, of course, and everything turned out worse. In a way, it could be said that the Emirates Golf Club got back at Jon Rahm (+2).
The first day was the complete opposite. Without particularly fine or spectacular play, beyond what the player’s own skin might say, the man from Barrika was able to squeeze every last inch of grass from the Dubai course. Today, it seemed as if it was waiting for him.
It all started with a mediocre second shot on the 10th hole after placing it on the fairway, followed by a poor bunker shot. Later, the tee shot on the 12th is a good reflection of how his day went. He missed the drive, true, and went to the right, an area where you’re playing Russian roulette. It can land well, in a sandy area from which you can even aim for the green, or it can land very poorly, for example, stuck in a bush. The latter happened. It was just one of those days. Jon’s ball got tangled in a web of dry branches, suspended in the air. He could drop with a penalty, but he decided to take a risk. He hit it with everything, but it came out soft and ended up 15 metres ahead, now indeed inside a bush. “The drop didn’t guarantee much either, there were many chances it would have stayed in a footprint,” he explained after finishing the round.
On the 12th, the first double bogey fell. Then he hit a poor third shot on the 13th, missed the tee shot on the 14th, missed a good birdie chance on the 15th, a very bad tee shot on the 16th (bogey), another serious error from the tee on the 17th (par saved with difficulty), and strangely to the left, he sent the tee shot on the 18th into the water, due to a club error, as he shouldn’t have hit the driver, and went into the water again after dropping (double bogey). Next, as if in a macabre circle, was an acceptable tee shot on the 1st hole, a bit to the left, but not too bad, which ended with the ball stuck to a tree trunk (bogey).
It has been one of Rahm’s worst sequences in his career. A six-over-par in eight holes. End of story. He was at a total of +3, and the cut became a pipe dream. He didn’t manage to play well at any point, although perhaps luck wasn’t as elusive. He managed two birdies on the 6th and 9th, with two medium and long-distance putts, to finish with 77 strokes and a total of +2. It is Rahm’s fourth-worst card in his career, and it wasn’t the worst because of the nearly nine-metre putt he made to say goodbye. Today is only surpassed by three 78s: Estrella Damm Andalucía Masters at Valderrama in 2021 (first round), US Open at Shinnecock Hills 2018 (first round), and The Open Championship 2018 at Carnoustie (second round).
Looking at the courses, it can be said that the Emirates adds to the list of monsters that have taken Jon down in battle. However, the Basque has no complaints about the Dubai course. “Of course, I’m going to come back next year. If the schedule allows, I’ll be here. The result has nothing to do with the course. I played very poorly, nothing went right, but I love the course. I want to play here again. The preparation is magnificent. It’s not easy to find such long and tough rough outside of the Majors,” he states.
And what happened to Rahm today in Dubai? That’s the million-dollar question. Jon isn’t one to dwell on the wound when things don’t go well. In fact, he made an effort after the round to downplay what happened. “I’m very upset because I wanted to play well and give myself a chance on Sunday. I don’t like having one of the worst rounds of my career. It bothers me because I played poorly, but it’s okay, the good thing is that we’re starting the year and there’s a lot of time ahead to fix it. It’s just a bad day. You have to see things in perspective and give the right importance to a bad day or a bad week,” Jon points out.
Jon is right that it’s just a bad week, but in terms of his Ryder Cup qualification, it’s a lost opportunity, and he won’t have many this year to earn points, beyond the Majors. It’s clear that the Spaniard should be one of the picks for Bethpage if he doesn’t manage to get into the team on his own, but it’s also clear that he wanted to qualify, and this week he lost an important chance to earn points.
That said, perhaps the most positive thing about a day to forget is that he technically knows what went wrong and what needs to be done to correct it. “I know, and as soon as I get to Arizona, I’m going to work on it with Dave Phillips. I have a very clear idea of what went wrong today,” he concludes. Next stop: LIV Golf of Riyadh in two weeks.
