The mystery of the children who steal Jon Rahm's ball at the US Open

The anecdote can be told by Jon Rahm to his children: "Once dad was robbed of the ball by some children playing the US Open...".

How?

That's how it went...

Hole 18, the first day of the American Open in which Rahm defends the title he won last year, his first major, the only Spaniard to have won this tournament.

out of the bag

, the most powerful club, and his ball flies out of sight.

Nobody sees exactly where he has fallen, until he mysteriously appears next to a tent, in a fenced area, next to a generator.

Indeed, it is yours, Callaway brand.

Someone has found it there following the footsteps of two children who run from the scene with the face of having committed a mischief: supposedly, keeping Rahm's ball and then disposing of it as if it were a murder weapon.

The event itself is confusing, and almost requires a police investigation due to the mystery surrounding such a bizarre episode.

Not even Rahm himself knows for sure what happened.

In practice, the hideout, in an artificial zone, means that the champion can drop without penalty.

His second shot in this par four travels to the

, and with a long

signs the

and a card of -1, in the leading positions (the first leader is the Canadian Adam Hadwin, with -4, followed by -3 by McIlroy, Tarren, Lingmerth, Dahmen, and Daffue).

Power and precision 💪

A unique look at defending champ @JonRahmPGA's swing 👀 pic.twitter.com/5BQOfFfxT0

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 16, 2022

The little

star in the end of a thriller.

Just on the previous hole, the 17th, Rahm had bordered on drama.

His aspirations to revalidate the crown were very close to vanishing.

Rahm's tee ball hits the left-hand

and from the

to number two the demons drive him: "It's fucking out of bounds!"

Believing that he had lost it, he throws a new, provisional ball, but it goes even worse and is lost among the trees and deep vegetation.

As he makes his way to the landing zone, a scream wakes him from the bad dream.

It is his father, Edorta, who from behind the ropes tells him that his first ball is located, and on top of that it is barely sunk and with a good angle to look for the

.

Rahm even gives himself a

option that ends in par.

On those two holes Rahm almost had a heart attack.

"It seems that he has lowered Seve and has played for me", snorts the Basque at the end of the round, taking off his cap and touching his beard.

“I have played them very differently from what I like.

On the 17th he knew the

to the left was not a problem, but I've been very, very lucky.

The luck of the century.

And on top of that in a US Open.

On the 18th I think my ball ended up in the stands and some kids took it away.

Thanks someone has noticed.

I saw them running towards me with a careful smile.

They have drawn the magic hand.

I was surprised because they were the only ones in that direction, the rest were going towards the

”.

Fortune kissed the champion when the wind had picked up at Brookline and the feeling was no longer as good as it had been at the beginning.

After closing out the par five of eight, Rahm had a -2 with three

in the last four holes and was co-leader.

The short game worked, from the

it was a cannon that left his round partners, Morikawa and Piot, lying, and the course was perfect, a carpet under a calm sky.

"It seems that Seve has gone down and played the last two holes for me", @JonRahmpga after the first day of @usopengolf #USOpenEnMovistarPlus pic.twitter.com/iR0yYMTuQG

– Golf in Movistar Plus+ (@MovistarGolf) June 16, 2022

The script began to change when the wind blew up and Rahm lacked a bit of decision with the irons.

On the 9th hole he visited the bunker on the right and the escape was long: two

and a

.

At 14, the second par five of the course, another test: fairway missed and an approach shot before reaching a raised platform towards the green.

A labyrinthine hole.

Saving par at that station and a deflected putt at 15 to stay in peace with the field.

The pair was good.

With that he was content until those two diabolical last holes arrived, first the fear of the lost balls on the 17th and then the mystery of the children who ran off on the 18th.

"I could have made a few more

," Rahm sighed, "but any time it's under par at a US Open, welcome."

US Open qualifying.

Sergio García arrives at the last minute and signs +4

A personal problem caused Sergio García to not set foot on the US Open field until Wednesday afternoon, just 20 hours before the start of his first round.

The man from Castellón played the first Saudi league tournament last week, in London, and his arrival in Boston was delayed due to an unforeseen event.

With little training, El Niño signed four shots over par and has the cut uphill.

The same thing happened to Adri Arnaus, who delivered a +6 card.

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