Jon Lam (Spain), who had a good start this season, showed the potential of a championship candidate.
On the morning of the 27th (Korean time), Jon Rahm scored 5 strokes in the 2nd round of the PGA Tour Farmers Insurance Open (total prize money of $8.7 million) held at Torrey Pines Golf Course Book Course (par 72) in San Diego, California, USA. Shortened and tied for 14th place with a total of 4 under par 140 strokes. It is 8 strokes behind the leader Sam Rider (USA, 12 under par, 132 strokes).
In the first round held at the South Course (par 72), Ram tied for 116th with 1 over par, and was in danger of being eliminated from the cut. However, on the relatively low-difficulty book course, he tied 1 eagle, 5 birdies, and 2 bogies to reduce 5 strokes and jumped 102 steps. He was placed in the same rank as Ahn Byeong-hun.
Ram won this competition in 2017 and kept the top rank steadily until last year except for 2018. In 2021, he boasted a perfect match with the Torrey Pines Golf Course, winning the US Open, a major men’s golf tournament held on the same course. Moreover, thanks to the rising trend of winning both the PGA Tour Sentry Tournament of Champions and the American Express, which he participated in in 2023, he was identified as the most likely winner in the opening game of this tournament. Ram can return to No. 1 in the men’s golf world rankings for the first time in about 10 months since March last year if he finishes this tournament in third place or higher.
Ram, who finished the first day unfortunately, got off to a good start with consecutive birdies on holes 10 (par 5) and 11 (par 4). However, he broke the flow with a bogey on the 12th hole (par 3), and lost one more stroke on the 18th hole (par 4). Even in the second half, the number of strokes could not be reduced until the 4th hole (par 4), and the sense of crisis of being eliminated from the cut increased. 메이저놀이터
What Ram changed the mood was the eagle on hole 5 (par 5). Afterwards, he added 3 consecutive birdies from hole 6 (par 4) to hole 8 (par 3) and jumped to the top at once. After finishing the second round, Ram did not hide his strong confidence, saying, “Today, the ball hit really well. My goal is to win.”
All Korean players who participated in this event survived. Ahn Byeong-hun hit an even par on the South Course to raise the rankings to 14th, while Kim Seong-hyun lost 2 strokes on the South Course and finished tied for 20th with 3 under par and 141 strokes. Kim Si-woo and Lim Seong-jae, who played side by side on the book course, lost one stroke and two strokes each and tied for 24th place with a 2 under par 142 strokes. Noh Seung-yeol, who lost one stroke in the South Course, continued his chances of entering the upper ranks with a 1-under par of 143 and a tie for 36th.