The logic dictates that Spanish golf only has one option for victory in the Estrella Damm Andalucía Masters with 18 holes to go. This is Jorge Campillo, the tournament leader tied with Julien Guerrier and three strokes ahead of Daniel Brown and four ahead of Jordan Smith. Normally, the victory would also be among these four players, as the fifth-placed is already six shots behind the leader.
There aren’t many golfers who escape logic and the norm. The problem for the leaders is that one of them is in Sotogrande and answers to the name Jon Rahm. If anyone can challenge the concept of ‘what-everyone-expects’, it’s the big man from Barrika. The US Open and Masters champion is in sixth position, seven strokes behind the leader, and he is well aware that victory this Sunday is almost out of reach, but he won’t be the one to close the door while there’s a mathematical chance.
The recipe for pulling off the miracle of an epic comeback is clear: “I have nothing to lose and I have to go all out from the start, plus, obviously, the putt has to help me.” More or less, we can all have our own idea of what going all out means, but the interesting thing here is to know how Jon Rahm himself understands it. It’s not the same to go all out for this writer as it is for a man who has been Number One in the world for more than 60 weeks.
The Basque player is clear about it. In his particular language, it means, for example, hitting the driver on holes 3 and 5, two relatively short par 4s where each day the more conservative strategy of teeing off with a wood or even an iron is chosen. The other point of going all out is to aim for every flag without hesitation. They have to be left close. In case of doubt, go for it. Objective: leave many birdie opportunities from five metres down.
The other key to the concept of going all out is on the greens. Rahm explains it in a very simple graphic way: “every four or five-metre putt has to be hit as if it were the last to win a tournament, with the idea that only in counts. If I overshoot, then I’ll have to make the return putt, but there’s no other way,” he says.
Precisely, in this third round, he has felt somewhat out of place on the greens. When he hasn’t missed due to strength, it has been due to the line. He hasn’t quite felt completely comfortable. In principle, tomorrow he will have to adapt to even faster greens. Rahm accepts the challenge. “I have no choice, it’s about starting well, making some birdies at the beginning and trying to give the leaders a scare. There’s nothing more. I have to do very, very well, and the two at the top have to falter a bit,” he concludes.
Whatever happens, seeing a round from Jon where he promises to go all out will already be a spectacle in itself. As they say, the Basque will play it big or not at all.
