There have never been so many stars at an Open de España and, to the surprise of few, they have delivered. Spanish golf fans were licking their chops when it was announced that so many great players would be gracing the event this year. Among others, Rahm was joined by Tommy Fleetwood (15th in the world), defending champion Matthieu Pavon (26), Shane Lowry (29), Sepp Straka (31), Tyrrell Hatton (38) and former US Masters champion, Patrick Reed.
All of these golfing superstars made the cut with room to spare at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid. Anyone who has made the trip to watch them strut their stuff this week will not have been disappointed. Most of them are going into the weekend with a shot at the title. The Spanish capital has never seen the likes of what is about to come.
Rahm dug his claws into the course and his -5 leaves him in third position and makes him a sure favourite for the crown. He did not enjoy his best two days on the links but he is right where he said he wanted to be on Wednesday: “If I can get into the Top 10 by the weekend, then you can demand a win from me”. So it will be. He won’t have things easy though. Fleetwood stole 4 shots from the course having played in the toughest session on both days; in the near-hurricane on Thursday morning and on Friday afternoon, when the wind blew twice as hard as it had before noon. His masterclass of how to play the game in blustery conditions will not be soon forgotten by the 200 faithfuls who followed his every move.
Patrick Reed, with his dazzling short-game, made himself known and will tee off tomorrow at 5-under par, the same mark as Rahm. The Basque was full of praise for the American’s prowess around the greens before the competition kicked off and Reed will be keen to prove him right by winning the ACCIONA Open de España presented by Madrid on his first attempt.
Shane Lowry deserves a special mention. The Irishman is sitting at 1-under par, which, in itself, is not all that impressive. But the way he got there certainly was. This is his first appearance at the event and the wind seemed to have him somewhat out of kilter on Thursday. A round-one 75 may have had the Irishman fearing the cut, but if it did he did not show it. His round on Friday was the third-best of the day and Tommy and Jon are now within reach. He will be dangerous if he can squirm his way into the final group. Kudos to Shane for an amazing bounce-back!
Another player making their bow in the Spanish capital who had to dig deep for the right to play on Saturday and Sunday was Tyrrell Hatton. On Thursday he struggled to wrap his head around the greens and signed for a rare +3. Today he seemed more in tune with his new surroundings and he cancelled out yesterday’s round with a 3-under 68. He is level par and still in the mix.
Defending champion Matthieu Pavon, and Sepp Straka, who were playing alongside Rahm, have endured similar fates so far. On Friday a series of unlucky breaks kept them away from the top-end of the leaderboard. The Austrian in particular seemed to be at the mercy of bad luck everywhere he turned. He wiped out Thursday’s -4 with a +4 to join Pavon on level par. The Frenchman’s 72 today was miraculous. They will both be hoping to make up some ground on ‘moving day’.
With 36 holes left to play, the strongest players are still in the thick of it and this year’s Open de España will surely live on long in the collective memory. Who will take the spoils on Sunday evening?
