The star match arrives at the tee of hole 4. It’s high up and there the wind blows strongly. Much more today. “Day of westerly wind,” the locals assure. Gusts of 42 kilometers per hour in the first round of the LIV Golf Andalucía. Jon Rahm comes from making a bogey on the 1 and signing a great recovery on the 3. He’s suffering like everyone else and the following dialogue takes place:
– “Well, here is Valderrama showing its teeth, not the whole mouth, but some teeth,” assures Sergio García.
– Jon looks at him amazed. “Do you really think this is not the whole mouth?”.
– Sergio, with a half smile, replies: “I’ve played here in much worse conditions”.
The thing is that the westerly wind is a hot and dry wind that can make the greens very hard and fast, but in reality, according to some of the professionals who know the Sotogrande course best consulted by Ten Golf, the easterly wind is the most difficult from the point of view of the game. Why? Because it catches against holes 12 and 15, two hard par 3s in themselves, and devilish with that wind, and also against on 7, 9 and 18, probably the three most complicated par 4s of the Gaditanian coliseum. It is true that the easterly wind greatly facilitates the 17, par 5. It blows in favor and you get there in two with comfort, but it is still a par 5, although today it has caused some havoc, like Rahm himself or Bryson DeChambeau, who ended up in the water.
Valderrama in perfect conditions is already a great challenge for anyone. Today, with the wind, it has been a toothache. Only seven players have managed to finish under par. And many are. “I was very surprised. I did -2, I thought I would be around the lead and, however, I am three from the head,” explained the one from Borriol in a plea in favor of the quality of the LIV Golf players. Something that no one doubts. In the Saudi circuit there are high-level golfers, although they are not all.
With these conditions, it has been a day to grit your teeth and hold on to everything. Dean Burmester (-5) has been the hero of the day, with a galactic round of 66 strokes. The South African stinger has struck oil, precisely from the stingers. “I hit very good low shots, to avoid the wind, something that will come in handy as preparation for the Open Championship next week at Royal Troon“.
Burmester has a one-stroke lead over Danny Lee (-4), two over Eugenio López Chacarra (-3) and three over Sergio García (-2) and Anirban Lahiri (-2). Completing the list of golfers under par are Sam Horsfield (-1) and Louis Oosthuizen (-1).
Sergio has felt at home again in Valderrama. The King attacks again. He has displayed a golf of many carats. He has played like a clock from the tee and has hit very good shots with the irons, despite having missed up to eight greens. Then, he has been brilliant in the recoveries. The only bogey of the day came on the 8th, after hitting a good shot that bounced on the green and ended up going out on the left margin. His chip was a bit short and he missed the par putt about two meters away.
That single mistake appeared minutes after the highlight of the day. Hole 7. His second shot, with a 52-degree wedge from the center of the fairway, falls a bit short, does not crown the green and the slope located at the front sends the ball 25 meters from the flag. Sergio does it perfectly and puts the ball in the hole on the second bounce after giving about six or seven turns inside around the cup. As if it were a centrifuge. “I had never seen anything like it, I just kept saying, but it falls ‘down’…”. And it fell.
Jon Rahm (+2) has not signed the best start of the tournament, but he is not too upset. He takes the positive reading. He believes he has played solid and only regrets two shots: the third on the 17, which ended up in the water, and the second on the 13, which he believes he should have left closer and ended up in bogey with a three-putt. “A round of par today would have been very good and I was not far from doing it. I am seven strokes away and I hope to play well on the weekend and give myself options on Sunday,” he points out.
As could not be otherwise, a day like today, has brought with it some major setbacks, such as Hudson Swafford (+11), David Puig (+10), Harold Varner III (+9), Bubba Watson (+8)… However, the +2 of Anthony Kim can be considered good in view of the circumstances.
By the way, what weather is expected for the weekend, will the westerly wind continue? Here, not even the oldest of the place dare to make predictions regarding the wind in Valderrama. Some weather forecasts claim that Saturday could turn to easterly, but it is not clear. – Javier Reviriego, general manager of Valderrama, and who knows a lot about what is going on in this area in terms of weather, believes that the westerly wind can continue. “The normal thing when the westerly wind comes in is that it lasts several days, but we’ll see”.
