ROME – It was 6:20 a.m. Friday morning, and the sun was just beginning to illuminate Marco Simone Golf and Country Club’s dewy practice green as Jon Rahm struck his first putt.
“The feelings you have down the stretch in a tournament I had hitting my first warm-up putt … and it increasingly got higher until we hit that tee shot on the first hole,” Rahm said. “It's a different feeling, but if you embrace and enjoy it, you can play some pretty good rounds of golf.”
It's safe to say Rahm embraced this particular moment.
The fiery Spaniard set out in the leadoff foursomes match of this 44th Ryder Cup alongside European partner Tyrrell Hatton. He pounded a drive at the first, holed a birdie putt from off the green at the second and off the pair went. Four birdies and an eagle later the Euro pair were taking their hats off after a 4-and-3 rout of World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns.
“We played as confident as two people can play,” Rahm said, “and it was a beautiful one.”
Rahm, with a determined look in his eye, never let a struggling American side get momentum. Scheffler and Burns won just one hole, the sixth, but Rahm immediately responded by almost holing his tee ball at the 203-yard, par-3 seventh hole.
Three holes later, at the par-4 10th, Hatton yanked a drive and Rahm hacked his second shot through the fairway and into the right rough, but Rahm proceeded to dunk a 72-yard pitch for par to tie the hole and remain 2 up.
RAHMBO!!!!! 💪#TeamEurope | #RyderCup pic.twitter.com/T5MJZn2rCm
— Ryder Cup Europe (@RyderCupEurope) September 29, 2023
He and Hatton would take Nos. 11 and 12 as well to notch their first full point together; they halved a four-ball match in 2021.
“We think about the game very similarly and we react to the game very similarly and we understand each other,” Rahm said. “When one of us misses a shot, we know what's going on in the other player's mind. We might vocalise it differently, but at the end of the day it's the same process. It's like being in the same brain.”
They’ll split for Friday afternoon’s four-ball session, though with Europe up 4-0 after the opening session for the first time ever, European Captain Luke Donald’s strategy is clearly working.
And it certainly doesn't hurt that Rahm is feeling it.
