Jon Rahm has now touched base at the ACCIONA Open de España presented by Madrid. At 12:30 this afternoon, the Barrika native arrived at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid. Straight from the airport. The Spaniard has come to Madrid immediately after the recent birth of his third child and will be vying for a fourth Open de España crown.
“I’m very happy about how everything has gone, being able to bring our little girl home for the kids to meet. I would have felt sad having to leave and missing that moment. We were lucky to be able to do all that, thank God they are both in good health. I’m very grateful for how well everything went”, admitted the Spaniard.
With barely any time to acclimatise, Rahm made a beeline for the driving range to fine-tune his game before his first round. He will be teeing it up on Thursday at 14:00 alongside defending champion Matthieu Pavon and Austria’s Sepp Straka.
Rahm admits that he has never arrived at a tournament in a comparable situation. On Monday he attended the birth of his daughter and was able to leave for Madrid when both his wife Kelley and the newborn were home. After an eight-hour flight he arrived in the Spanish capital at midday on Pro-Am day. He will kick off his campaign at Club de Campo tomorrow without having even played nine holes. “I don’t think I’ve ever arrived in a situation like this, after a long journey, but I’m very grateful to have been at the birth and to be able to get here”.
Jon is ambitious and will not accept anything but the best, but he also knows he has to take it one day at a time. “Tomorrow it’s going to be really windy. I’m not expecting to shoot 6 under on day one. Tournaments aren’t won on Thursdays, I have to try and play as well as possible to get a good score tomorrow and find my rhythm”.
Rahm already knows what it is to win here and he loves playing at Club de Campo: “I’ve won here twice, with -25 and -21. I like the course. I grew up playing here. I played all my amateur golf in Spain, I’m particularly comfortable at this course. It’s a narrow course on which I’ve won twice because both times I hit the ball particularly well from the tee and putted well. That is a winning combination in many places, but even more on a course like this”.
Regarding the field this week, the two-time major champion is delighted to be competing with great players such as Lowry, Fleetwood, Hatton, Pavon and company: “As a Spaniard, for so many good players to come to the Open de España makes me proud. I love that the fans have so many options to watch such good and varied players. So I’m very happy that we’re all here”, concluded Rahm.
His campaign for a fourth title in the Spanish capital kicks off on Thursday.
