Published July 17, 2008 on April 13, 2018

Rahm One off the Pace in Madrid

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World Number Four Jon Rahm is just one shot off the pace after Paul Dunne and Marc Warren both produced big finishes to sit atop a congested leaderboard after day one of the Open de España.

Warren birdied five of his last seven holes to sign for a 66 and get to six under and it looked like he would lead on his own as heavy rain moved in during the late afternoon at Centro Nacional de Golf.

The conditions proved no problem for Irishman Dunne, however, as he finished with an eagle to join the Scot on top and lead by one from a group of 11 players.

Rahm, who finished fourth at the Masters Tournament last week, and amateur Victor Pastor delighted the home crowds at five under alongside English trio Aaron Rai, Callum Shinkwin and Jonathan Thomson, Swedish pair Alexander Björk and Henric Sturehed, Frenchman Julien Guerrier, Australian Jason Norris, Austrian Matthias Schwab and South African Erik van Rooyen.

Rahm said, “It feels great. To be honest, I would have taken anything under par given the fact that I played a lot better than I expected to play. My long game was amazing. The driver alone set up two birdies on 13 when I hit it over the green and on seven, where I got it right up to the green so things like that are a bonus. Hopefully I can keep hitting it tee-to-green the same way and make a few more putts the rest of the week.

“They did a fantastic job drying the course. On the first hole especially after yesterday I was expecting the ball to land and stop but it took a big bounce. It was amazing to be able to dry up the course the way they did, that’s why the scores are not as low as we expected. On the par fives even, if I had a seven iron I couldn’t have stopped it on the green, you are not going to be able to hit it really close, same on five. So all credit to maintenance, it was amazing to see how good a job they’ve done.

“That bogey on 17 was unexpected because I hit three great shots and still made a bogey. Great tee shot where I wanted to hit it just a bit too long, good chip a little too far to six feet, and the putt was good but it lipped. Everything balances out in golf at some point, and I got lucky I made that putt on the par five because was going pretty far past the hole. That was just a little bonus and got the second nine rolling when I played really good.”

Defending champion Andrew Johnston was then in the group at four under, with 40 players within three shots of the lead.

Local favourites Nacho Elvira and Pedro Oriol, South African pair Trevor Fisher Jnr and Richard Sterne, German Sebastian Heisele, Dane Thorbjørn Olesen, Australian Brett Rumford and fellow Englishman Paul Waring were alongside Johnston two off the lead.

Round One Scores

66 P Dunne (Irl) , M Warren (Sco) ,
67 M Schwab (Aut) , H Sturehed (Swe) , J Rahm (Esp) , J Norris (Aus) , J Thomson (Eng) , C Shinkwin (Eng) , E Van Rooyen (RSA) , A Rai (Eng) , J Guerrier (Fra) , A Björk (Swe) , V Pastor (am) (Esp) ,
68 T Olesen (Den) , P Waring (Eng) , B Rumford (Aus) , T Fisher Jnr (RSA) , A Johnston (Eng) , S Heisele (Ger) , N Elvira (Esp) , R Sterne (RSA) , P Oriol (Esp) ,
69 D Lipsky (USA) , C Bezuidenhout (RSA) , S Horsfield (Eng) , Y Miyazato (Jpn) , M Manassero (Ita) , S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) , A Otaegui (Esp) , J Kruyswijk (RSA) , M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) , S Jamieson (Sco) , M Wallace (Eng) , N Bertasio (Ita) , J Winther (Den) , R Gouveia (Por) , D Fichardt (RSA) , S Kjeldsen (Den) , S Kim (USA) , M Kieffer (Ger) ,
70 S Han (USA) , J Scrivener (Aus) , S Gallacher (Sco) , J Quesne (Fra) , R Paratore (Ita) , C Syme (Sco) , H Tanihara (Jpn) , F Fritsch (Ger) , J Campillo (Esp) , S Brown (Eng) , R Fox (Nzl) , R Evans (Eng) , C Ford (Eng) , R Rock (Eng) , A Wu (Chn) , G Bourdy (Fra) , J Choi (Kor) , M Baldwin (Eng) , G Storm (Eng) , L Gagli (Ita) , A Wall (Eng) , A Quiros (Esp) ,
71 J Heath (Eng) , B Neil (Sco) , N Colsaerts (Bel) , B Dredge (Wal) , T Detry (Bel) , S Fernandez (Esp) , J Colomo (Esp) , A Saddier (Fra) , C Pigem (Esp) , R Jacquelin (Fra) , B Stone (RSA) , P Widegren (Swe) , D Kataoka (Jpn) , A Bland (Aus) , A Arnaus (Esp) , J Donaldson (Wal) , S Lee (Kor) , G Green (Mas) , A Dodt (Aus) , A Pavan (Ita) , B Evans (Eng) , M Fraser (Aus) , P Larrazábal (Esp) , L Canter (Eng) ,
72 T Jaidee (Tha) , G Coetzee (RSA) , Z Lombard (RSA) , D Howell (Eng) , A Cañizares (Esp) , T Murray (Eng) , M Foster (Eng) , L Slattery (Eng) , T Lewis (Eng) , E Molinari (Ita) , P Angles (Esp) , E Goya (Arg) , N Cullen (Aus) , A Garcia-Heredia (Esp) , S Tarrio Ben (Esp) , O Fisher (Eng) , J Smith (Eng) , O Farr (Wal) , F Aguilar (Chi) , G Havret (Fra) , D Horsey (Eng) , A Connelly (Can) , E De La Riva (Esp) , R Bland (Eng) , G Moynihan (Irl) , A Hidalgo (am) (Esp) , B McKenzie (am) (Eng) ,
73 N Geyger (Chi) , D Drysdale (Sco) , C Sordet (Fra) , C Blomstrand (Swe) , D Burmester (RSA) , S Gros (Fra) , R Cho (Kor) , M Kinhult (Swe) , M Pavon (Fra) , C Hanson (Eng) , R Ramsay (Sco) , J Dantorp (Swe) , R Cabrera Bello (Esp) , G Fernandez – Castaño (Esp) , J Wang (Kor) ,
74 D Brooks (Eng) , J Morrison (Eng) , F Zanotti (Par) , M Nixon (Eng) , J Geary (Nzl) , V Dubuisson (Fra) , J Sainz (Esp) , J Lagergren (Swe) , S Del Val (Esp) , L Jensen (Den) ,
75 T Aiken (RSA) , A Chesters (Eng) , R McEvoy (Eng) , T Pulkkanen (Fin) , A Sullivan (Eng) , D Im (USA) , C Koepka (USA) , A Del Rey(am) (Esp) ,
76 P Khongwatmai (Tha) , M Schneider (Ger) , M Korhonen (Fin) , R McGowan (Eng) , P Lawrie (Sco) ,
77 E Pepperell (Eng) , B Hafthorsson (Isl) ,
78 N Fasth (Swe) , R Karlsson (Swe) ,
83 J Gonzalez Courtney (Esp) ,