‘Humble’ Rahm heading for Masters in great form
● Sky looks limit for Spaniard after two strong WGCS
Thirty-seven years after Seve Ballesteros became the first European to win the Masters, a fifth Spanish success could be on the cards at Augusta National in just under a fortnight’s time. Debutant Jon Rahm, after all, looks as though he’s ready to take the season’s opening major by storm.
The 22-year-old won his first PGA Tour title in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in January and has since made his presence felt in two World Golf Championships. He tied for third behind Dustin Johnson in the Mexico Championship at the beginning of March before winning through to meet the same player in the final of the Dell Technologies Match Play in Texas.
No matter the outcome of that title showdown, a new Spanish star has been born on the world stage. Whether he can go on to make as big an impact on the game as Ballesteros remains to be seen. That, in fairness, is a tall order. As is doing as well as another twotime Masters champion, Jose Maria Olazabal or even emulating the worldwide success enjoyed by Sergio Garcia.
On the evidence so far, the sky is the limit for Rahm, who beat a stuffy opponent in Bill Haas to set up his title shot against Johnson, who overcame Japan’s Hideto Tanihara in the other semi-final to stay on course in his bid to become the first player to have won all four WGC events.
“I play to win. I compete to win. And my mind-set is winning,” said Rahm. “Once I get to tournaments, I just focus on what I have to do, stick to my routine, breakfast, warm up, hit balls and think about it each shot at a time. When it comes to it on the course, I really don’t think about it. And once I’m done I try to avoid golf and social media, because otherwise I might get hung up on things like that. I try to stay humble.”
Meanwhile, Bradley Neil was probably the player out of five Scots in the field to take most out of the opening Challenge Tour event of the season – the Barclays Kenya Open. It followed the 21-year-old from Blairgowrie climbing up ten spots on the final day after a closing 68 at Muthaiga Golf Club in Nairobi.
The five-birdie effort saw Neil finish joint-29th on six-under in an event won by Englishman Aaron Rai, who signed off with a 65 to finish three shots clear of the field on 17-under in claiming his breakthrough success on the circuit.
Neil ended up alongside Chris Doak (70), the pair finishing two shots ahead of Craig Lee (72), with David Law (70) four shots further back.