Golf / history

Jon Rahm is full of happiness. He has not yet won an individual tournament this year - "well, but I won by couples in New Orleans and I consider it a victory", he claims - but he feels comfortable and happy in Ireland, a special place for him. "I think it's the only place where I feel the heat of the public like in Valderrama," he tells reporters on the eve of the Irish Open, a Rölex Series, with seven million in prizes, a big tournament, which could return him to seventh place of the world ranking if he wins on Sunday. Jon will face a field, the Lahinch Golf Club, in the west of Ireland, type links, which is one of the most unique of those played at the end of the year. It was designed at the end of the 19th century by Old Tom Morris and all those who have retouched their route have respected the old layout Ahm tells it in detail, as if that story had been a subject for him at the University of Arizona. "It's definitely something special, you need a lot of different things, the first three holes are in a straight line, and when you get to the room, you can not see anything in the next four holes, it's fun," he explains. And he insists on those blind holes, which suppose "a hard mental test: you aim at a flag, a rock, a piece of grass and that is very demanding", he clarifies after having come into contact in only ten holes with the field. After training nine holes, he jumped to 18. At this time of the season, with the British Open as his goal, Rahm feels he has improved "with the driver, in the starting shots in general, I'm better this year and the putter, I do not mean last week, it's also better. "Among the main rivals to beat this week are Tommy Fleetwood, Louis Oosthuizen, Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Shane Lowry, the local reference in the absence of Rory McIlroy.