Jon Rahm will fight tomorrow to defend the title at the LIV Golf in Chicago. Just under a year ago, he won at the Bolingbrook Golf Club ahead of Joaquín Niemann and Sergio García. This Sunday, he will once again share the final round with a Spanish golfer, in this case Josele Ballester, and he will do so with a strange feeling: being the least ‘powerful’ hitter in his group, which will be completed by South African Dean Burmester.
“Tomorrow, I will probably be by far the one who hits the least in the group, which doesn’t happen to me often,” the Barrika native acknowledged after signing a card of 67 strokes this Saturday to place himself tied in second position and in a position to earn a good handful of points that will allow him to fight to reclaim the order of merit of the Saudi circuit next week.
“It’s a good feeling to play with another Spaniard and hopefully repeat last year’s success, I think we Spaniards have creativity and skill in the short game”
For the Basque golfer, playing again on Sunday with a compatriot is a good omen: “It’s a good feeling to play with another Spaniard and hopefully repeat last year’s success. I think we Spaniards have creativity and skill in the short game, something that helps a lot on this course.” Although for Jon, the goal is very clear: “The goal is to win and thus get the maximum possible points; then I need a bit of luck with Joaquín not having a good week. Defending the title is my goal this week.”
Finally, the Spaniard analysed how his second round went at this Chicago event: “It was almost like playing two different courses, but in terms of feelings, I felt good all day. In the first 10 holes, I was two strokes over par without feeling like I was hitting badly or making mistakes, but the wind was very strong. The eagle on the 12th changed the momentum for the rest of the round and gave me a great opportunity in the last nine holes.”
“The type of grass and the undulating greens remind me of what I had as a child, and that helps. I’ve had a very good touch around the green these two days, just like last year,” Rahm highlighted. And finally, he was surprised by the statistics: “I’m surprised by the streak of tournaments gaining strokes from the tee because this year I’ve been struggling with my swing in that part of the game.”
