As a general rule, it’s usually not a good idea to shout at each other between friends on a golf course during a tournament round, whatever it may be, or whistle from one end to the other as if you were herding cattle. Especially not if you’re near a tee box. And even worse if it’s the hardest hole on the course. Well, that’s what happened today on the first day of the Open Championship. A fan whistled to get the attention of an acquaintance as if he were in the Wild West, with the bad luck of being next to the tee box of the 11th hole and right in the middle of backswing of Jon Rahm.
Jon missed the shot to the right, a bad spot, and immediately reprimanded the fan for his behaviour, although after the round he downplayed it. “You have the most difficult tee shot on the course, raining, against the wind from the left, that’s enough… No need for more. I know they don’t do it on purpose. It seemed like someone trying to get someone else’s attention for some reason. It was a bad moment. I used it to release tension. To be honest, it probably didn’t affect as much as I made it seem. It was also a bad swing. Just a difficult hole. It’s frustrating, but it is what it is. It’s an everyday thing in golf,” he notes. It honours Jon to acknowledge that it was also a bad swing.
As for the round, Rahm was quite satisfied. “It was good golf. If anything, I would have liked to take a bit more advantage of the easier holes, the first five with today’s wind. From the 2nd onwards, they were all downwind. I could have taken more advantage of that. I had a couple of good opportunities. Shame about that birdie on the 1st, but even so, pars here are never going to hurt you, and those holes from the 8th to the 12th, mostly against the wind, are tough holes, a tricky stretch of the course where if you manage to make pars it’s great. But overall, yes, I’m very happy with the round. I accept the result. I feel confident. I hope to hit some better tee shots. With the rain, it’s always hard to say. I feel like I was making good swings. The water gets between the ball and the club and it can go anywhere. But I’d like those good swings to produce the shot I like to see. But other than that, a very good day,” he explains.
In Jon’s opinion, the course is quite balanced in terms of difficulty. There are nine very challenging holes and another nine very manageable due to the wind blowing this Thursday. “From the 2nd to the 5th, and including the 7th, and then the 13th, 14th, 15th, you’re not really very stressed. The wind helps you from the right. As a right-hander, you usually feel more comfortable with that. On the 4th hole, the bunkers could be flown, so the fairway is much wider. You can be a bit more comfortable. It’s the other holes, as I said, in that stretch from the 8th to the 12th and then the 16th, 17th especially, that are very difficult, with wind from the left, rain or not. It’s extremely tough. You have to hit very high-quality shots to give yourself a chance from the tee and then towards the green as well. I feel that, in some way, you have around nine or ten very difficult holes and nine very, very doable,” he concludes.
