Jon Rahm was great during the first day of the Masters and showed great fight. Although he made a four-putt double-bogey on his opening hole, Rahm posted an eagle and seven birdies in a seven-under 65. He is currently in the lead along with Viktor Hovland and Brooks Koepka.
“If you’re going to make a double bogey it might as well be on the first hole, so you have 71 to recover,” Rahm joked after the match. “Walking to the second tee I remembered Seve’s quote when he was asked how can you four-putt when you’re so good and he said ‘I miss, I miss, I miss, I make’.
I’m mostly super happy with what I’ve done today, right. I didn’t expect to hit a great three wood, a good second shot and four-putt the first hole, but to overcome that and shoot nine under on the next 17 holes was something to be proud of.
Hopefully, I can just keep it going.”- he continued.
Hovland and his game
Hovland rolled in an eagle putt on the second hole and added three birdies in a four-hole stretch starting on the sixth, with further birdies at the 11th and 13th undermining the course record of 63.
Hovland emphasized the importance of being careful, as mistakes can have very costly consequences in the long run if they are not avoided. “I don’t care how good you hit it out here, you have to chip the ball,” Hovland said. “You have to have a short game, especially on that back nine when I hit a lot of bad shots.
To be honest, I managed to keep myself in it by hitting some really nice chips and making some really nice putts. Obviously the greens are receptive, but this place is always – if you get a little too cocky and you want to push a few spots that you probably shouldn’t, it will punish you very quickly.”
