Jon Rahm shares lead with Henrik Stenson at Hero World Challenge
Spain’s Jon Rahm birdied half the holes and show the lowest round this week and took a share of the lead alongside Henrik Stenson at the Hero World Challenge on Friday. Meanwhile, Tiger Woods, going fine at five-under through 17, found himself embroiled in a bizarre incident.
Rahm’s nine birdies without any bogeys at the Albany Golf Club carried him nine places up on the 18-man leaderboard and propelled him into the lead.
Rahm, World No 8, started his birdie run on the third hole and picked up three more at the sixth, seventh and ninth to turn in 32. The birdies kept flowing in at 10, 12, 14 and 15, followed by another at the last for good measure as Rahm (63) finished on 10 under par after his first round 71.
Soon after Rahm was joined by fellow Ryder Cup star Stenson, who has not had a great year, save the Ryder Cup. The Swede, who has not had a single Top-3 finish in 2018 holed three late birdies for a six-under-par 66.
The two Europeans were one shot clear of World No 3 Dustin Johnson, who followed up an opening 68 with a well-played 67, and overnight leader Patrick Cantlay, who had a 70.
Tony Finau lies alone in fifth place a further shot back after a splendid 64, two clear of Gary Woodland (66) and Alex Noren (69).
After an even-par Thursday, Finau raced up the board with three birdies on each side and an eagle at the par-5 ninth for an also-bogey-free 64.
Rahm is in search of his first worldwide win since the April success at pen de Espana, while Stenson is coming back from an elbow procedure and has a new caddie on the bag.
The key for Rahm was he scored heavily at the Par-5, of which there are five, and the two short Par-4s. This is where Albany is generous and players taking advantage of that are the ones who succeed.
Johnson despite three wins has lost his No. 1 ranking and would therefore look for a consolation win, while Cantlay and Finau attempt to add to their lone PGA Tour wins.
Further down the field, Justin Thomas and Justin Rose are tied on four under after each carding successive 70s, while tournament host Woods lies a further two shots back.
Woods closed with a nasty double-bogey on the 18th. It could have been even worse if the rules officials decided to penalise him for a double-hit.
Woods’ most inelegant shot was the most talked about one. His drive at the 18th hole found a bush the attempt to get his ball out from the bush prompted suggested he may have had a double-hit or worse raked the ball – which is hitting it more than once in a single swing.
Seeing the replay, Woods admitted that he hit the ball twice, but he was not charged with any penalty since the rules violation was not discernable to the naked eye without the aid of high-definition, slow-motion replay, as covered under the rules, which concerns “limitations on the use of video evidence.”
Also, Woods said he did not feel he had hit the ball more than once. He later said, “I didn't feel like I violated any rules." Woods signed for 69 and sits 2-under for the week.
After that attempt to come out of the bush, Woods needed four more to complete the hole despite the ‘escape’. The officials spent over 20 minutes analysing the shot before deciding not to impose any penalty.
Usually a double-hit would incur a one-shot penalty, although the rule is set to change in 2019 if a player is deemed to have “accidentally” hit the ball twice.
Masters champ Patrick Reed started the day with a share of the lead but ended it eight shots off the pace and one place above the bottom after following up his opening 65 with a 77.
