Jon Rahm (-5) feels that he has left some tasks undone today, after handing in a card of 69 strokes and staying five behind the leader, the Malaga-born Ángel Hidalgo (-10), who continues to show everyone his number. “After the good work I did on Thursday, today I take away a feeling of frustration for not having taken better advantage of the day, especially the first eleven holes, which we played without wind or not too much wind,” said the Barrika native.
All of which is not to say that the Basque player feels that the Open de España is already slipping away from him like fine sand between his fingers. He would have signed for this accumulated -5 with 36 holes played on Wednesday with his eyes closed, considering the weather forecast, he acknowledged, although today, once past the first third of the round, he saw himself with options to fly even higher. Be that as it may, we will all agree, including the player himself, that his roadmap has no blots.
We asked him to set a winning score, for the sake of doing some calculations of what he needs to win this tournament for the fourth time, which would be the third at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid. “It’s very difficult, among other things because good results will be achieved without wind over the weekend. But well, if I have to say something I think the winning score could be between -15 and -20”.
Let’s then leave it at a -17 or -18, for the sake of finding a middle ground. It seems like a prediction full of common sense. In this case, Rahm would need something like two cards of 65 strokes to give himself a chance. Well, that’s it: today he has probably left some tasks undone, but he is still in the equation. So say the data:
Jon Rahm has played to date 18 competition rounds on the Black Course of the Club de Campo and in six of them he has signed 65 or fewer strokes. One in three. We can refine a little more and the data is still more favourable to his interests: Jon has played to date eight competition rounds on the weekend on this course, on Saturday and Sunday, and in half of them he signed 65 or fewer strokes, including real cards, like that 62 on Sunday with which he closed his victory in 2022, or that other 63 in the third round with which he set up the triumph in 2019. His average strokes in the weekend rounds is currently 66 strokes… Yes, Jon Rahm is up to his neck in the fight for victory. Among other things because, beyond the difference in strokes with the head of the tournament, he will not have too many rivals ahead once this second day is over. Perhaps that is the most important thing of all.
