Jon Rahm has his second US Open within reach

Can you be happy after losing the US Open lead with a double

on the 18th hole?

Yes, and a lot, if you have overcome one of those typical whipping days in the American Open: cold, wind and a field prepared to show your nails.

This Saturday Jon Rahm had the bitter taste of the two shots added on the last step, but the taste of a great day of golf prevailed on the palate.

The Basque turned out the light with one more stroke in the round and -3 in the general classification, one behind the pair of leaders, the American Will Zalatoris and the English Matt Fitzpatrick (-4).

Hot on the heels of Rahm, the trio made up of Keegan Bradley, Adam Hadwin and world number one Scottie Scheffler (-2), and another group of three, Sam Burns, Rory McIlroy and Joel Dahmen (-1) in their slipstream.

Those are the only nine players after Day 3 who are under par at the demanding Brookline Country Club.

The day of the move was a scramble in which only seven golfers (Zalatoris, Fitzpatrick, Bradley, McCarthy, Woodland, Muñoz and Lee) turned in the red.

The par 70 rose to an average of 73.5 strokes on this day.

US Open in its purest form.

18 holes for our national championship.

This is going to be fun 😎

Full Scores: https://t.co/DAdF57sFZv pic.twitter.com/nqjOZNmb1s

– US Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 19, 2022

Rahm will depart this Sunday at 2:34 p.m. from Brookline (8:34 p.m. Spanish peninsular time; from 4:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. at Movistar Golf) with Bradley as his travel companion.

At sunset in Boston, he dreams of raising his second US Open after winning the last course in Torrey Pines, which would be the tenth major in Spanish golf.

This Saturday's lesson will be present for all competitors.

If the conditions are repeated, it will be another day for brawlers, and in that ring the big man from Barrika knows how to dance well.

Two giants threaten from behind: Scheffler, king of the circuit and green jacket at the Augusta Masters, and McIlroy, who has accumulated hunger after eight years waiting to taste his fifth big one.

Ahead, Zalatoris (best lap on Saturday, -3) and Fitzpatrick are moved by the passion of virgin glory.

Neither the 25-year-old American nor the 27-year-old Englishman have tasted any victory on the PGA Tour.

Zalatoris, yes, has made notables in the Grand Slam.

The kid has played eight majors and has finished in the top 10 in five, sixth this season at the Masters which Scheffler won and second on the PGA after a playoff with Justin Thomas.

He already knows what it is to lose, a previous step to win.

Fitzpatrick is adorned with a list of winners with seven wins on the European circuit and two

in the

.

And above all a memory: in 2013 he was champion of the US Amateur in this same course.

The two would-be greats should be prepared to hear the noise of a locomotive behind them.

Jon Rahm lifted the last US Open starting in the last round three shots behind.

Only one now separates him from his prey.

He reached that step this Saturday tightening his belt.

The wind in Brookline was noticeable as soon as he left the clubhouse behind.

A

from four meters fell short in the 1 when he could start discounting a stroke, he missed the short game in the 2 and charged with a

, and in the 3 he already had to close his jaw to save par from five meters and not take two steps back as soon as you get up.

Another rush on 4, that the day had been hectic, when he lost the fairway and then kissed the

off the

.

They were two saving pairs, those that in the US Open are sung as a goal.

Overcoming that first wave, Rahm made two good

options : at number 5, a par four of 314 yards, 287 meters, which for the Basque is a toy because he reaches the

from the start;

and in the 6th, a par three in which he knew how to tame the flight of the ball before the vagaries of the wind.

In both the success escaped him by a finger and instead he sang bingo in the 7 with a

of five and a half meters.

And the 8th hole arrived. Par five.

Jon Rahm on the 8th hole at the US Open.

The ball stayed next to the tree and... he hit his back pic.twitter.com/WdV7qbiP3Q

– juan morenilla (@juanmorenilla) June 18, 2022

Contact with the tip of the

sent Rahm's ball to the left of the fairway, next to the base of a tree.

There was no room for his natural strike, nor was there room for a left foot because a thick root was crossing the path.

The solution was to hit from behind, taking the stick with one hand, to return the ball to the ring.

The adventure ended in

.

Two pairs at 9 and 10 were key to calming things down and despite another shot more at 13 (visit to the

), Rahm undertook the final stretch with fresh hands and head.

On the 14th, par five, he fastened it with a no-sweat

and on the 15th he shook his hat to get a superb shot from nine meters out of his sleeve.

It was the footprint of the champion.

Rahm was launched, acclaimed by a passionate crowd that set off a high-voltage atmosphere.

In the 17th he combined a 300-meter cannon shot with a soft wrist flick to salute the flag up close.

Zalatoris and Fitzpatrick had then signed a -4 card and the Basque had just written -5.

So confident was he that he approached 18 wanting more.

But this is the US Open.

His departure flight landed in a bunker on the street, and in his attempt to escape, with night falling, "an error in the type of hit", he admitted, left him in the same place.

The walk on the sand was not over.

Another bunker at the foot of the

, a long tee shot and a missed

for that double

that took him down from the lead alone and dressed him up as a pursuer.

Rahm fails to get out of the bunker on the 18th hole. ERIK S. LESSER (EFE)

“The general assessment is very good, I am happy.

A pity on the 18th. The field has been very complicated, hard, and making pairs was difficult.

A very US Open field, they have prepared it difficult.

I am proud of not letting frustration take over my lap because there have been bad moments”, Rahm summed up wanting to replenish batteries.

The day had punished McIlroy (plus three on the day), Morikawa (round of plus seven to see the head from far away) and Scheffler, who came to fly with -6 with a master's

from the fairway in the 8 and he ended up shaken in a devastating sequence: double

on 11, and

on 12, 13 and 14. There is no compassion even with the number one in the world at the US Open.

US Open qualifying.

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