Jon Rahm and when winning the field is a victory

There are times when the biggest rival is the golf course.

It was one of those times this Friday at the Southern Hills course in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on the second day of the PGA Championship, the second big of the season.

Beating the course, scratching it even if it was a shot at its par 70, could be considered a victory in itself because of how hard the course was, with strong gusts of wind, compact

and treacherous bunkers whose sand gave more than one surprise.

And in that tidal wave Jon Rahm became strong, who after a shaken Thursday with three over par, signed one down (69, two up in total) to enter the weekend with options to climb positions, still far from the head (Justin Thomas delivered a final card of -6, waiting for other competitors to finish).

Rahm started the round on the 10th hole and soon gave himself chances to take out the scissors.

He missed the short game and landed wide on the 13th hole, one of only two par 5s (next to the 5th hole) on the Southern Hills course.

And there stood out one of his moles this course.

A rocket off the tee, Rahm is number one on the American tour in

shots gained and

reached, but in play around this area he sinks to between 150 and 200. His usual magic hands for the recoveries they have lost some spark and in the game close to the

they lose what they have advanced in other areas.

He missed again this time and then missed the

so as not to go over par when he had to discount blows.

In the final stretch, when the birdies are distributed, the Basque has taken a step back.

There were 20 holes in a row, between the end of the day on Thursday and the beginning of Friday, which Rahm spent without discounting a shot, until he put a

in his mouth on the 17th and turned his round around.

The bombshell was released on hole 1: 418 yards out, 382 meters, to link a surgeon's touch and leave the second

of the day given.

From there he linked Barrika's ups and downs (slowing down with a

at 2,

at 5, short when leaving the bunker at 8, another

failed

again) to finish off that one under par in the round of the day, +2 in total.

Sergio García started from the same starting point, but the man from Castellón deviated until he was left with +6 outside the cut.

Since he won the 2017 Masters, the man from Castellón has skated in 12 of the 19 majors that he has played.

John Daly in cart and Morikawa with the laser

The PGA Championship has left some image out of the ordinary.

One is that of John Daly, 56, moving in a buggy between shots, instead of walking, thanks to the fact that he has a medical exemption to move around the field due to arthritis in his right knee.

The other has been the use of lasers by some golfers.

The PGA Championship is the only major that allows this device, a kind of binoculars used to measure distances with greater precision than with the naked eye.

Although that does not speed up the game.

PGA Championship Ranking.

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