The first day of the Augusta Masters brought the usual contrasting emotions of the tournament. However, Jon Rahm experienced more suffering. The Barrika native endured a complete roller coaster of emotions. With his painful performance on the par-fives last year in mind, the trend continued at the opening of the tournament and worsened throughout his game as the holes progressed.
Rahm, results
Rahm posted two birdies and five bogeys, a total struggle that will leave his main objective this Friday: trying to make the cut. To do so, above all, he must regain confidence to start taking strokes off his score. The first step, of course, will be to get good tee shots, because he has never been consistent there and because his mistakes have severely penalized him when it comes to finishing the various holes.
The day, in fact, began with Rahm's tee shot into the bunker, which was a prelude to what was to come later in the day. However, a great approach allowed him to save the opening par-four. But Jon repeated his play on the second hole, messed up the tee shot, leaving a shot in it, and ended up finishing the first par-five of the day with an unflattering bogey.
One of his few brilliant tees, on the par-four 3rd, he anticipated a birdie after a great shot from the fairway, but the fall of the 4th green spurred an all-or-nothing quest for birdie or bogey. That mistake hurt Rahm, who squandered the following birdie putts and found himself with a bogey on the 7th after coming up short on the green. A three-putt for par, a missed birdie putt, a painful error with the par putt on the 10th, and another long missed par putt on the 11th put Rahm at +4 with seven holes remaining.
On those holes, at least, Jon stemmed the loss. Good approaches helped him make the most of the par-four 12th and, on Azalea, the par-five 13th, he missed a birdie after a long eagle putt that narrowly missed. The putts, however, struggled again on the following holes, especially on the 17th, where a birdie seemed a given. At least, Rahm saved par on the 18th after going into the bunker. This Friday, he needs to improve if he wants to be in the top 50, which will continue at the Masters at Augusta.
