Carnoustie is one of the most challenging courses in Scotland, let alone the world. This explains why so many people refer to it colloquially as “Carnasty”, as this links course can give any player a hell of an experience on any given day.
Ask anyone who has attended the Carnoustie Open Championship, which has hosted eight of golf's oldest majors.
But many top players return to the course each year for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, the prestigious DP World Tour pro-am event at Carnoustie, the Old Course at St. Andrews and Kingsbarns in Scotland. held. Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick, Sean Lowry and Billy Horschel are all competing in this year's tournament. So did LIV Golf stalwarts Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm, the latter of whom got off to a strong start at Carnoustie on Thursday.
Fresh off a tough loss to Angel Hidalgo at the Spanish Open in Madrid, Rahm shot a 7-under 65 at Carnoustie, matching Thursday's lowest score. He has made huge strides elsewhere, although he remains four strokes behind 49-year-old South Africa's Darren Fichardt, who shot 61 at Kingsbarns after the first day. But whatever the conditions, a sub-70 score at Carnoustie is cause for celebration. Most players will have a hard time on this course, which winds its way around the famous Barry Burn. Yes, Rahm's 65 was more impressive.
Rahm played well, however, for two reasons: a fiery putter and the unorthodox advice he received from LIV golfer Tyrrell Hatton, a two-time Dunhill Forest winner. kessay. Interestingly, Hatton also shot 65 at Carnoustie on Thursday.
“In Tyrrell’s words, just hit the driver over every bunker, into the rough, and then hit your wedge into the green,” Rahm explained.
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“That's basically what I did – missed in all the right places. My first fairway on the front nine was No. 17 and I was 3 under, right? That's something you can do when it's not an Open Championship setting and the rough is a little lower so you can be more aggressive and hit the green with short irons, which is what I did today.”
Ironically, Rahm's only bogey came on the par-4 17th, where he found the first fairway of the day. He then redeemed himself from that mistake with a birdie on the final hole, the par-4 18th, which set Jean Van de Velde apart at the 1999 British Open. The hole resulted in the most famous triple bogey in golf history.
Rahm then added four more birdies on the front nine, his second of the day.
“On the front nine, it’s better off the tee,” Rahm said.
“I found myself in the fairway most of the time and being able to be aggressive.”
Of course, the flat stick must cooperate to achieve good results on the famous Carnoustie Links.
“I putted really well today. I hit the ball really well. Feeling comfortable out there,” Rahm said.
“But the number of putts I made from 15 to 20 feet was above average today. That's the kind of scoring a golf course like Carnoustie needs. Hopefully I can continue to play like that over the next few days.”
If he continues to play like he did at St Andrews and Kingsbarns on Thursday, Lahm may run away and hide. He had done the most challenging route and now it was all downhill from here on out.
Jack Milko is the golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through. Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Get more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jackmilko as well as.
