Jon Rahm (-1) has formally presented his bid for victory at the US Open in Oakmont. The golfer from Barrika delivered an excellent card of 69 strokes this Thursday and has positioned himself in sixth place. He is three strokes behind the leader J.J. Spaun (-4), two behind Thriston Lawrence (-3), and just one behind the third place shared by Sungjae Im (-2), Brooks Koepka (-2), and Si Woo Kim (-2).
It’s a great performance, even outstanding. So much so that he hasn’t started a Major this well since he won the Masters Tournament in 2023. On that occasion, he finished the first day as a co-leader (after starting with a double bogey on the 1st hole). In fact, Jon doesn’t have an excessively brilliant record when it comes to his starts in majors. It’s not a disaster, but it’s not extraordinary either. This start, three strokes off the lead and in sixth place, is the fourth-best of his career in 35 Majors played. It is only surpassed by the aforementioned Masters, his victory in the US Open in 2021, when he started in fifth place two strokes off the lead, and the Open Championship in 2019, where he began third, two strokes behind. In that Open, he finished eleventh. He has never started closer than three strokes from the leader.
With the data in hand, it is irrefutable that this is a very good start for Jon. If we talk about feelings, also. We could almost say even better. He has been brilliant from the tee, hitting the driver like in his best days, finding many fairways and going very long. He also hit very good irons to the green and, in fact, did not suffer excessively. He made only two bogeys and couldn’t have made many more. The only significant save was a putt of almost four metres on the 13th for par. On the other hand, he missed two very short putts on holes 12 and 6, one for birdie and the other for par, and two other good birdie opportunities on 5 and 16.
The great moment of Jon’s round was on holes 3 and 4. He superbly linked a birdie and an eagle. On both holes, he hit two excellent drives. On the 3rd, he nailed the wedge to less than two metres for birdie, and on the 4th, he even left himself an eagle chance after hitting a majestic 4-iron. To some extent, it could be said that Jon made it look easy in Oakmont, and that’s saying a lot when talking about the fierce challenge of Pennsylvania.
Majors are not about how they start, but how they finish. But many end right at the start. This is not the case for Jon. An interesting horizon opens up in the three days remaining.
