Jon Rahm fell right into the proverbial Boiling Pot Of Controversy two weeks ago at the Irish Open thanks to some mis-marking of his golf ball on the green.
With that talk barely dissipating, Rahm found more whispering after his first round on Thursday at the Open Championship.
Rahm’s drive at the par five 17th was a bit wayward. He was in the rough and when he approached his ball, he found a thorny vine close to his ball that appeared to be dead.
Rahm moved the vine away from his ball and that caught the attention of playing partner Lee Westwood. There was a rules official with every group and the official joined the inspection to find out that the vine was indeed growing out of the ground, not dead. After much discussion, the official ruled a two-shot penalty but also agreed that the situation would be reviewed again after the round.
“That’s what we agreed on, Rahm said. “He said we were going to go on. And then we just discussed it. Basically the discussion was, was it an improvement of the lie or not? That’s it. I explained my version of what happened. Unfortunately for me I was the only one who saw it. There were no cameras to back me up. That’s what happened. And it was never on my lie. It was never in my line, never on my swing path. It was not going to bother me anyway.”
Two shots gave Rahm a 71 but then came the review after his round and before he signed his card.
Rahm made his case to a group of officials and they deemed that he did not improve his lie, the removal of the vine did not affect his swing path and that there was no intent and they ruled no penalty, giving Rahm an opening round of 69.
“At the end of the day it’s not my call, honestly,” Rahm said afterward. “I can describe what happened as honestly and truthfully as possible, as detailed as can happen. And they make the judgment call. It’s up to them. They did say it’s a very fine line, I would have been fine with whatever the rules official — they know the rules better than any of us and it’s their call. I said the same two weeks ago. It was their call to give me a penalty stroke or not. It’s not up to me, obviously.”
COMEBACK OF THE DAY
Rory McIlroy got off to a brutal start on Thursday. He made bogey right out of the box then went on a string of four more starting at the third hole. “I was nervous going out, I was a little more anxious, not as much belief in myself as I should have. I thought ‘geez, here I go again.” It was then McIlroy got a few choice words from his caddie, J.P. Fitzgerald. He looked at his boss and blurted: “You’re Rory McIlroy. What the f@#k are you doing?”
“Thankfully he’s not had to do it too often,” McIlroy said of his caddie’s pep talk. “He’s never afraid to do it. I feel today it helped a lot more than at other times because I needed something. It wasn’t that I could look within myself. I was trying to. But J.P. kept me positive out there, so that was very much appreciated. “I didn’t find the club face until the seventh hole,” McIlroy admitted.
But it was then that his round began to turn. Three straight pars still left him five-over at the turn. But he found four birdies on the back nine, including three on the last four holes.
“I’ll go to bed tonight trying to remember those last 12 holes,” McIlroy said after salvaging a one-over par 71 that left him in decent shape.
