At a British Open, there are many stories side by side. For example, a one-on-one chat between world nos. two and three, Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm, with Justin Rose as the couple’s guest on the morning shift at the Royal Liverpool. The 18-hole course, along with the Northern Irishman and the Spaniard, is the draw on day two and it’s proven by the rush of fans who follow the game from start to finish. For five hours, the call, “Come on, Rory!” rang out, escalating in decibels and variations on the chorus as the beer flooded the bodies of the impromptu singers. There is no shortage of the exclamation “Go, Rahmbo!”, there is also a version in Spanish (the traditional “Let’s go!”), and fewer are the invocations to Justin Rose. Curious: The applaudometer is transferred to the classification of the trio. The most acclaimed McIlroy finishes the day at -1 GC, well behind Open leader American Brian Harman (36 years old), who has widened the gap to the peloton, who leads at -10, as if he were a fugitive not considered dangerous for GC. Boy did he and there’s his great Eagle at 18. Fleetwood is watching him from afar at -5, save for -4 from Sepp Straka and -3 from Min Woo Lee, Shubhankar Sharma and Jason Day.
To find Rahm you have to go down several positions, down to +2, on the verge of not even making the cut despite the Basque looking up the chart instead of down; and Rose packed with +6. The one who doesn’t attract attention, is secretive and humble and doesn’t even give himself all the merits he has is Adrian Otaegui, who remains in the noble positions, seventh place, with +2 on the day and -2 in the general classification. For now, there are no chants or drunken fans for him. There was none this time for Scheffler, either, who suffered to the last second with a masterful escape from a bunker to reach the weekend (+3) after a day of six bogeys and a birdie at 18. The same sweat that Claret Jug defenseman Cameron Smith saved with an eagle at 18 (+2) over the bell.
Hole 1. The fans break palms with McIlroy’s birdie, who stitches the shot from the fairway. Have them serve the first drink. Jon Rahm fights back on the first few holes, not having much of a chance to deflect shots, but not much of a scare either. At 3, a very short putt by McIlroy misses the hole by millimeters. An oohhh runs through the strings. We must drown the sorrows. Stopping on 5, the first par 5 of the day, Rahm finally puts his first shot on the card after a string of par, par and bogey on Thursday’s par 5s. In the same set, McIlroy’s ball lands in one of those bunkers lined with a sheer wall and the Northern Irishman delivers a masterful serve. Rahm was delighted with the birdie and on the 6, par three, converted another middle-distance putt to get the deal. The front nine holes were completed by McIlroy with another surgeon’s performance from a hill, a turn that touched the flag, but Rahm skidded and charged with a bogey. Barrika’s penalty is double when he missed a short putt on 10. The distraction got the Basque going. Shit! he screams.
The curves are coming. A cut was imminent, and the wind also began to whip up more force. As he later said, Rahm took “the fight” into his own hands. In game 12, he saved par after seeking out the rough on the right side and hitting from a bad position, only to later land a third shot that encouraged him to keep hitting. He also recovered from a bad bounce at age 14 by chipping off a tricky putt. He capitalized on the par 5 of 15 with a moderate bingo. He avoided the penalty in the 16th after going through the bunker. He left hole 17 with a very juicy birdie in his backpack, in a very scenic par 3, green up. And as Rahm, at 18, headed towards the final hole of the day, a par 5, he was planning on hitting another birdie and making par overall, with a meadow ahead of the comeback. But from ambition to disappointment because from that last stop he had a painful trip with -1 on the lap and +2 overall. Even so, straight cuts were made in the Big 17s.
“It’s a shame about the putt on 10 and 18,” explained Rahm; “The rest was a good day, although not particularly good with the irons. I saved good pairs and kept shooting. The field was more difficult, tougher and with more wind. With these small greens and little leeway you have to hit them very well and with this wind it’s difficult.” Beside him, McIlroy ended the game as he started with an 18 birdie. More applause and more beer.
Without much excitement, Otaegui hit 16 pairs and two bogeys in a row on Days 11 and 12. He had a very early game, at 7.30am, but the San Sebastián man was still wearing a short shirt. He went wide, half a turn from yardage, at 6 and with the usual regularity. “I hit very well from the tee and only got into a fairway bunker on the right at 12. It’s true that I didn’t have any birdie putts until the last few holes. “I played well from the tee to the green, although I could have played better on the green,” he summarized. His seventh-place finish is a registration for someone who has only played 14 rounds in a major tournament, with four missed cuts and a 65th-place finish in the 2018 PGA as their best grade. His knock on the Ryder’s door gets louder each time.
Otaegui, on the first hole. Peter Powell (EFE)
Outside the cut, the rest of the Spaniards appeared on the table: Pablo Larrazábal (+4), the amateur Josele Ballester (+5), Nacho Elvira (+7), Alejandro Cañizares (+12), Jorge Campillo (+14) and Adri Arnaus (+21). Also Phil Mickelson (+9) and Dustin Johnson (+13).
British Open Classification.
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