“The game of golf is fundamentally unfair.” This phrase is from Cameron Smith and he has said it on two occasions during his media briefing at the end of the first round of the LIV Golf Andalucía. “It is what it is, we just have to accept it,” he explained after scoring a double bogey and a bogey consecutively just before hearing the horn suspending play at Valderrama. Play was interrupted due to strong gusts of wind that particularly affected the greens on the 11th and 14th, two points where he had passed minutes before the horn with the same or stronger gusts. Indeed, unfair. No matter how you look at it. Those who played mainly the first nine holes of Valderrama, less exposed to the wind and more sheltered by trees, were much happier about the suspension than those who mainly played from 10 to 18… You see, even shotgun starts can’t completely eliminate the inherent unfairness of a sport that has the peculiarity of being played outdoors.
Play was suspended at 17:08 in the afternoon and did not resume. The first round will continue from 8:00 and the second will start at 10:30. A handful of holes remain to be played. The star group with Jon Rahm, Sergio García, and Patrick Reed has the most work left. They need to finish putting on the 14th green and play the 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th. They have benefited. Holes 15 and 16 were playing extremely tough, and the 17th was no gift, more like a poisoned chalice.
Why does play resume so early and the start of the second round move forward by almost three hours? Well, there is no official explanation. What players have been told is that more wind is expected in the afternoon than in the morning. However, the forecast says the opposite. Precisely, from one in the afternoon, the intensity decreases. Let’s leave it, then, as a way to err on the side of caution in case the forecast is wrong, lest they play later, the wind blows, forces a suspension, and the game cannot be completed tomorrow, Saturday, either. Let’s leave it at that.
It has been a very tough day at Valderrama. As expected. Only five players were under par at the time of suspension: Talor Gooch, Lee Westwood, Cameron Smith, Joaco Niemann, and Branden Grace. All at -1. Of the five, only Niemann presented a bogey-free card. One of the day’s heroes. The other was Cameron Smith. The Australian reached a score of -4, something that seemed unreal given how the wind was blowing. It more or less blew with the same force throughout, but being a westerly wind, which dries, the greens became harder and faster and, therefore, much more difficult as the day progressed.
The leaderboard is very tight. There are 44 players separated by only five strokes. Jon Rahm (PAR) is perfectly positioned after getting spectacular performance from the putter. He sank some really valuable par and birdie putts, those between two and four meters that are often seen on a windy day at Valderrama and make the difference between being in the fight or falling behind.
As for the rest of the Spaniards, Sergio García (+2), who was not particularly helped by the putter, at least not as much as in Rahm’s case, was much better from tee to green than the score suggests. Two three-putts cost him ground. The feelings, in any case, are much better. His shot on the 6th, a meter and a half from the flag, was fabulous. Additionally, Josele Ballester is at +3, David Puig is at +4, and Luis Masaveu started at +5.
Among the players who struggled on this first day are Carlos Ortiz (+8), who three weeks ago was fighting to win in the tough conditions of the US Open, Dean Burmester (+5), and Louis Oosthuizen (+5).
