Jon Rahm takes command of the Augusta Masters with an exhibition

It's game time.

Neither Saudi League, nor PGA Tour, nor trials.

Golf.

Augustan Masters.

A museum field and the best players in the world, whatever circuit they are.

A green jacket is looking for an owner.

And Jon Rahm makes an appointment with the tailor.

The Basque, a giant, has closed the first round with a master class of seven shots under par, tied for the lead with the Norwegian Viktor Hovland (who played with Tiger Woods) and with the American Brooks Koepka, figure of the LIV (- 7).

The 65 strokes equal his best historical lap in Augusta, achieved on Saturday of the 2018 edition, when he finished the tournament in fourth position, his best position.

And they lower the 66 of the second round of 2020 and the fourth of 2021. A cyclone.

Who knew after a nightmare start by Rahm, his worst start in Augusta: four

on the first hole and a double

that forced him to roll up his sleeves very early.

The swerve came early because Augusta put two sweets on the road after the first corner.

Rahm caught a

on the par five of the second hole and another on the third, a par four in which hitters like Cameron Young, Justin Thomas (his roundmates) and he caress the green

the tee shot.

Return to the starting point and a few grams of confidence recovered.

The bag of self-esteem finished filling on hole 7. Young, Thomas and Rahm made a

, but only the Spanish squeezed the hole.

on the par five of the 8

that already led him to close the first lap with -3.

Jon Rahm eagles hole No. 8 to move to three under par and into solo second place.

#themasters pic.twitter.com/SLdYsZxD0B

— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 6, 2023

In the second part, the continuation of a manual golf.

Always very firm from the

, without missing a single fairway all day (100% success when his accumulated record in this tournament is 73%), accurate on the target on the

(he only missed one, on the 7th and by centimeters, 94% effective compared to 67% historical), without visiting any bunker, without a trace of ghostly trip-kicks and discounting blows where Augusta orders it to be done.

In the four par fives on the course, three

and an

.

As a clasp, another success with the

at 16, a par three that he put at his feet.

And another artist impact to reach the

at 18 (

plus iron 8) and leaving the

at one meter.

A display, even charging that first hole skid.

It is the lowest lap by any player in Masters history after starting with a double

“If you have to do a double, better at the beginning.

It is always better to concede the goal in the first minute.

I had 17 holes ahead of me to get up.

When you start the day like this, with a mistake, you relax, I have accepted what had happened to me and I have removed the negativity.

With the

on 7 things have changed.

I'm proud of the rest of the lap.

It is the most comfortable I have ever been in Augusta”, explained the leader.

This Friday it starts at 7:18 p.m. (Spanish peninsular time, Movistar).

After the trio above appear Cameron Young and Jason Day with -5;

and Shane Lowry, Xander Schauffele, Adam Scott, Gary Woodland, Scottie Scheffler, Sam Bennett and Sam Burns at -4.

Scheffler, number one in the world, started off with an

on hole 2, but missed a putt on

very short that left him confused.

He didn't discount a shot again until the second round's par fives, 13 and 15, and on 18 he missed again from close range.

Rory McIlroy finished at par.

If Jon says that he has taken 100% of the fairways and greens, he has taken them #AquiGritamosGolf pic.twitter.com/o0tiyTPONB

— Golf at Movistar Plus+ (@MovistarGolf) April 6, 2023

Rahm flew and Sergio García stopped.

El Niño aspires to repeat the glory of 2017, his first and only great, the memory of a happy past that in recent months has been transformed into a very troubled present after his signing by LIV Golf.

El Niño has not stopped being in the eye of the hurricane since he touched the sky six seasons ago —he called Azalea, the name of the 13th hole in Augusta, to his first daughter.

In the following course he signed the worst hole in the history of the Masters: 13 strokes on the 15th after sending the ball into the water five times in a row.

“These are unfortunate things.

I have done 13 without missing a shot, ”he assured.

Augusta is a land of reunions and in the Masters the Spanish tries to resurface.

José María Olazabal, champion of the green jacket in 1994 and 1999, shared a training round on Wednesday with García and Jon Rahm, and recommended that the Child seek deep within himself that "calm and tranquility" he needed to enjoy in the Masters.

But El Niño delivered a two-over-par card despite a front nine at -2.

A

at the start of the second round, at 10, and a period in which he sank with consecutive

at 13, 14 and 15 sent him down the standings.

It was precisely that section in which Olazabal demanded calm, but that García did not know how to manage to escape the spiral.

“Mentally we are fair.

I am struggling, ”he admitted.

Sergio García, on the 13th hole. David J. Phillip (AP)

El Niño came out to play in Augusta shortly after it was confirmed that the courts were in favor of the European circuit in the judicial process opened against the Saudi League.

The European Tour penalized 100,000 pounds (about 116,000 euros) to golfers from its organization who last year signed up for the inaugural LIV Golf event in London without permission from the European tour.

Ian Poulter, Justin Harding and Adrián Otaegui presented arguments against that punishment, which was suspended while the judicial process was carried out.

Otaegui, in fact, won the Valderrama Masters in that period.

Other golfers joined the allegations, although some got off the hook along the way, and finally justice has confirmed that the European circuit was within its right to penalize golfers who changed shirts without permission.

Garcia suffered, Olazabal suffered (+5) and Tigre suffered.

The first round of the Masters showed a limping Woods (+2).

The Tiger's body does not go where he wants his heart to go.

At the age of 47, and after five knee operations, five back operations, and a car accident that almost cost him the loss of his right leg, Tiger struggles to walk in a field as demanding as Augusta and accumulated several bogeys that steepened his

. minimum of making the cut this Friday, although he will try to row in the last holes to stay afloat.

Woods seems to assume that from now on he will have to collect more memories and ovations than chances of winning, as much as Augusta is like his backyard.

Today the kings are others.

In command, Jon Rahm.

Tiger Woods, on the 18th hole. MIKE SEGAR (Reuters)

Ranking of the Augusta Masters.

Departure times this Friday (Spanish peninsular time).

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