The Spaniard had a slow start to the season’s second major at Aronimink in his stellar grouping with Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth, but burst into life with a hole-out eagle on the second, his 11th hole.
That was the highlight of Rahm’s chaotic opening-round 69, which also included a big break when he got relief from a sprinkler head impeding him in the rough, which allowed him to drop his ball in the fairway.
The lowlight, though, came down his closing stretch on the 7th.
After a poor shot out of the rough on the par-4, an agitated Rahm slammed his club into the turf in frustration. Little did he know that the swing would pull out a sizable lump of grass and strike a volunteer by the side of the face. He felt awful and immediately apologized to the volunteer, but also wants to go one step further by offering them a gift.
“Thanks for reminding of that,” Rahm smiled when asked about the incident by TG.
“I got a flier on my second shot that went long. It’s not a good spot. Just out of frustration, I tried to make an air swing just over the grass, and I wasn’t looking, took a divot, and unfortunately I hit a volunteer.
“Unfortunately it hit him in the shoulder and then the face. I couldn’t feel any worse. That’s why I was there apologizing. I need to somehow track him down to give him a present because that’s inexcusable and for something that could be completely avoidable.
“Whether it was my intention or not, it was just not good.”
A newly-introduced Code of Conduct is displayed in the locker room here by the PGA of America this week. The organization’s chief championships officer Kerry Haigh explained that the the new rules came about after “a number of meetings” with the other bodies that control the majors – Augusta National, The R&A, and the USGA, as well as the PGA and DP World Tours.
“If a player does something egregious then, unfortunately, we would give a warning to that player,” Haigh said. “And if they were to do it again, there would be a two-shot penalty.”
The PGA Championship has not yet commented on whether Rahm received a warning for the incident.
The two-time major champion, who is finely placed at one-under, spoke about the preconceptions this week that players would go low around Aronimink. In Thursday’s opening wave, no player bettered a three-under 67, with Bryson DeChambeau and McIlroy among the big names well off the pace.
“Have you seen the golf course?” Rahm joked, before explaining where this venue bares its teeth.
“I can understand because if you just go by some of the numbers, some of the fairways are wide, the greens aren’t crazy firm. But a lot of those fairways are sloped in a way that they play very narrow.
“Like 15 today, I thought I was going to be in the fairway undoubtedly, and I was off the fairway. Same on 10, same on 4. It can easily roll off. Then the rough doesn’t look as long as many other majors, but it’s such a thick blade of grass that, even when the lie looks okay, it catches you so bad.
“So I can see how in appearance it might be easier, but it’s not. You need to play really good golf to shoot lower than 3-under.
“On top of that, those pin locations today are good ones. I mean, they’re tucked. They’re not easy. There was somebody earlier in the week where there was some chatter where people thought 15 to 20-under was going to win.
“I think that got to somebody in the PGA, and they did something about it! If the golf course stays like this and it keeps firming up, it’s not going to be anything like that.”
