MADRID – Jon Rahm and Shane Lowry struggled to return to action after helping Europe win the Ryder Cup, with Rahm briefly arguing Thursday with a marshal who tried to cheer him up at the Spanish Open.
After his drive found the left rough on the par-4 eighth hole, Rahm saw his lie and started complaining: “What a day, what a day,” he said, followed by an expletive.
The marshal marking his ball said, “It’s okay,” and Rahm immediately looked at him and said, “Please don’t tell me it’s okay. Thank you.”
The marshal apologized as he walked away, while Rahm continued to complain, “It’s not okay.”
Rahm made a par on the hole, but then bogeyed the next (his last of the day) to finish with a round of 1-over 72. He holed a bunker shot for an eagle on the par-5 14th, but his round featured only one birdie and four bogeys.
Rahm played in the same group as Lowry, who made the decisive Ryder Cup putt for the Europeans in New York last month, as the raucous home crowd tormented the European players from the start. Rahm said in Madrid that the Ryder Cup was mentally the toughest week of his career.
Lowry shot a 4-over 75 in his opening round at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid. The Irishman had six bogeys and two birdies.
The clubhouse leaders were Englishman Marco Penge and Frenchman Frederic Lacroix, who shot rounds of 5-under 66.
Rahm is trying to win a record fourth Spanish Open title and surpass Seve Ballesteros as the tournament’s most successful golfer since the European tour was founded in 1972. Rahm makes his seventh appearance in Madrid, with his victories in 2018, 2019 and 2022. Last year he finished second to compatriot Ángel Hidalgo in a play-off.
Ballesteros won the last of his 50 titles on the European tour at the 1995 Spanish Open.
It is the first time that the tournament offers the winner an automatic place in next year’s Masters. The top finisher who is otherwise unqualified will also gain entry into The Open.
World No. 1 tennis player Carlos Alcaraz, also a Spaniard, was among those following Rahm during Thursday’s opening round in Madrid.
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