The Telegraph
John Rehm’s horrible malpractice leads to a ‘pretty horrible’ round, as grand predictions are crushed
If you’ve ever seen the world’s No. 2 golfer Stone-Cold from above the heel, you can usually be sure that it makes sense. John Rehm insisted during the Masters practice round where he skimmed his ball around the lake at 16 o’clock, as if keeping in touch with perfection, he led the green opera to the arch intact in the cup. Alas, when the Spaniard made another shot while standing on the fairway at 8pm on Saturday night that barely left the ground, he was horribly unaware. With the full leaderboard finding the ball under his feet, Reham was spotted shaping it from right to left in par-five, but he was misdirected by short-range backswing, and was seen diving into a tree. Not unreasonable, he sparkled at the club as if he wanted to snatch him in half. It is one of the many secrets of the Masters that this 570-yard hole, which produces a regulation birdie for a player of his length, is sent before he settles his game. Last year, at the same location, he hit one of the worst shanks seen outside of the monthly medal. Such a defect can be forgiven, but its recurrence threatens to leave a mental scar. Raheem was kind enough to be asked to describe his round, where a terrifying error was extinguishing any momentum leading to 72 which left him seven deprived of Dustin Johnson’s lead. “Seriously, how can I describe it? Terrible, ”he said sternly. “I was playing good golf and got a big clay ball. There is no way I can be happy about it. The course was for scoring, and I couldn’t take advantage of anything. I finally fought against my —- to save the under-par round and I couldn’t. I’ve got to hit a miraculous score for a chance. “In all honesty, the fashionable excuse of the ‘mud ball’ doesn’t do justice to the horror of the stroke. For Mercy, it was the worst aspect of all time. As it got closer to the turn, it pushed the leaderboard in search of Johnson, as the world rankings suggest.” But at the hole he was hoping for an eagle, he was struck by a double-bogie who effectively tracked his quest for a major .When the short grass began to damage his incredible gab, Rahm soon fired his third shot. Lobloli compounded it by firing into the pine, causing it to blend properly into the bush, a seven he was finally able to gather, enough to erase his hopes.In the space of a hole, Mercy’s Gate lost its usual bounce.He made this third round play. Spoke, predicting a shoot-out of all the leading names and instead he went on to chase Johnson, his No. 1 rival, into a chaos of distance. It was a vague, lost opportunity for a man who, in the week of his 26th birthday, Command the tournament Got the game to give. He won two titles on the PGA Tour, and will be able to point out the top-10 finishes in three of the four. Also, there was relentless training at home in Arizona during this discouraging season, knowing that all roads led to Augusta. Reham is not opposed to grandiose predictions about his prospects. To win the Masters for them, he declared, he just needs to be true to who he is. “I need to play the shots I see inside,” he said. “It’s not the shot you were supposed to play. In my moment, the shots that hit my hand and my brain hit. Just who I am. ”For mercy, that moment came on the eighth and he proved it wonderfully unequal. As one has to accept any weakness, as his weakness, his swing sometimes runs and becomes brief when the pressure increases. So he came out in this third round, as he produced the kind of bug that bothers his sleep. After the initial bolts by Rehman, Paul Casey and Lee Westwood, these masters have taken a nice turn for the European squad. Rory McLeroy worked tirelessly to get Johnson, his friend, and a fellow member of the Bear Club in Florida, but nevertheless, his major will continue to do so wherever he is derailed by a weak round. Its opening 75 was the main sin against Johnson’s caliber rival. Instead, he was surprised at the exploits of Europe’s best Bernhard Langer, who dropped out of the course two below. Not only the fact that, at the age of 63, the master for making German cuts has become the oldest player in history to break Tommy Aaron’s record for 33 days, but the birth date of his fellow rivals in those major centuries spans a full century. Jenny Sarazen faced the 1976 Open at the Royal Birkdale as an 18-year-old born in 1902. Like Argentine amateur Abel Gallegos who qualified for Augusta this year? 2002. It is the greatest virtue of golf that such a feat is possible in a career. But it is also a tribute to Langer’s longevity that his powers have yet to focus on a course whose length is traditionally ruthless in his seventh decade. It’s part of a living, breathing museum.
