Rahm edges one clear as he seeks to match Seve

JON RAHM fired a flawless 65 to climb to the top of the

Spanish Open leaderboard and move a step closer to matching the great Seve Ballesteros.

Ballesteros won his home open three times and Rahm, a winner of this event in 2018 and 2019, has the treble in his sights after reaching 16 under.

He will have to fight off Min Woo Lee — his playing partner for every round of this tournament — and a bunchedup chasing pack at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.

Australian Lee, a two-time DP World Tour winner, is just a shot back after his 66.

‘I’m feeling good,’ said Rahm. ‘I wish most of my rounds could be as organised as this one.

‘I don’t feel like I did anything special, maybe the up-and-down on 17, but I just played consistent golf, put the ball in play, and the few times I missed the tee shot I was never really out of it.’

On playing with Lee again, he said: ‘It’s been great, we have played really good golf.

‘It is easy to feed off each other, every time one of us is on the fairway we are going to have a birdie look, so you know birdies are coming. Hopefully my best round can be tomorrow.’

Scottish pair Stephen Gallacher and Marc Warren are among a group that includes Eddie Pepperell, Louis de Jager, Matthieu Pavon and Kiradech Aphibarnrat who are three off the lead on 13 under.