Jon Rahm had issues with his driver during the third round of the DP World Tour Spanish Open in Madrid. It needed repair early on, so he had to not use it until the 14th hole.
But Lahm shrugged off the setback, saying it “didn't affect me that much.” Instead, he hit a 3-wood off the tee and paraded around Madrid's Campovilla Club for a 6-under 65. He has zero bogeys and six birdies and is now two strokes behind compatriot Ángel Hidalgo through 54 holes.
“At the end of the day on this course, if you keep it in the fairway, you're always going to be better off than hitting the driver out of line. They've done a really good job of mitigating that,” Rahm said.
“But I'm happy to have the driver back as fast as I did. I just assumed I would play the rest of the round without it. I was happy to hear the news from No. 12 that I would be ahead of No. 14 Got it. I think it was probably – I don't know, just a little happy moment that gave me a little bit of motivation for the rest of the round.”
When Rahm picked up the driver on the 14th hole, his score for the round was already 4 under. But he added two more birdies on the 16th and 18th holes to further move up the leaderboard.
He now heads into Sunday's final round seeking his fourth Spanish Open title, surpassing the three his idol Seve Ballesteros won during his illustrious career. A win would mean the world to Rahm and all of Spanish golf.
Even better, on Sunday, Lahm will be part of the final pairing with Hidalgo and David Puig, the 22-year-old Spaniard who left Arizona State University to join LIV Golf in 2022.
“I'm excited. I haven't been paired with them in any tour or tournament yet. We've played a lot of games at home but that hasn't happened yet. I'm happy that we're in the final round and the final group for the first time, ” Ram said.
“Hopefully I can get the win in the end, but it's definitely going to be an atmosphere on Sunday that they haven't experienced yet. There's going to be a lot of people watching, and it's going to be fun.”
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.
