Wild drives, a stolen golf ball and happy finish for Rahm
BROOKLINE, Mass. (AP) — Jon Rahm began his U.S. Open title defense with a 1-under 69, a solid score Thursday at The Country Club that ended with a par and a birdie.
His final two holes had a little more excitement that numbers alone can reveal.
Rahm pulled his driver on the par-4 17th hole and said to his caddie, Adam Hayes, “That might be out-of-bounds.” There’s no OB, but the ball could have been lost or unplayable, and the stroke-and-distance penalty the same.
The caddie marked up another ball and handed it to him. The second one was more of a hook. Hayes reached for another ball.
At that point, Rahm would have been hitting his fifth shot. But he saw a marshal finally signaled the ball was safe. Rahm’s first ball was in play, he hit wedge out of the rough to 12 feet and missed the birdie putt.
“I fully know how lucky I got on that hole, and I tried to take advantage to make a birdie, but I’ll take the 4 and run any day of the week,” Rahm said.
The next hole was even more entertaining. He hit another hook, this one disappearing over the fence toward the television compound. Spotters found the ball under the tent, and then it was gone. Turns out two kids grabbed it and off they went.
“I’m pretty sure I know who it was. I recognized the two kids that were running the opposite way with a smile on their face,” he said. “I am 100% sure I saw the two kids that stole it.”
He was just happy the ball was seen in the first place. Rahm got relief from the TV tent and good fortune kept coming his way when he took his drop. The rough wasn’t very thick and Rahm only had 125 yards to cover the bunker in front of the green.