As is traditional at any professional golf tournament, Wednesday was Pro-Am day, where three amateurs team up with a professional. In the case of the ACCIONA Open de España presented by Madrid, another tradition is forming; that Jon Rahm teams up with the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida. Today they were joined by José Manuel Entrecanales, president of ACCIONA, and Ana Patricia Botín, president of Banco Santander.
They enjoyed a great morning of golf together, starting their round at 9:06 on the first tee at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, of which Martínez-Almeida is also the president.
The world number one and the mayor of Madrid are practically old friends now, and the banter was flowing between them all day. Meanwhile, Entrecanales surprised everyone with his ball-striking, and the only lady in the group, Ana Botín, did the same by draining some long putts.
The group played 18 holes and both Jon Rahm and his caddie Adam Hayes spent much of it helping their three team mates with their green reading and club selection and the odd swing tip when they hit a bad shot.
Leaving aside the status of the three amateurs, Rahm was blessed to have them with him purely because they are all single-figure golfers, therefore there were plenty of birdies to go around, which is essential in the pro-am format where only birdies and eagles count towards a team’s score.
As good as these amateurs are, they all agreed that a little help with their swings from the best player in the world is always welcome.
As was to be expected, most of the fans that turned out today at the CCVM followed this match, prompting Jon to joke “these fans are harder to please than the ones at Augusta, they don’t clap anything” after one of Martínez-Almeida’s shots. The mayor quipped back “I guess they didn’t vote for me.”
After their round, Madrid’s mayor stated that “playing with Rahm is a gift, apart from being the world number 1, he acted as our coach ironing out our swing faults, particularly mine.”
? “Número uno y profesor por un día”
La experiencia de @AlmeidaPP_ junto a @JonRahmpga en el Pro-Am del #AccionaOpen pic.twitter.com/mkIPEeewLp
— Acciona Open de España presented by Madrid (@accionaopen) October 6, 2021
