There is a Spanish Open that is played inside the field and another that is played outside. In the first there is a master and lord called Marco Penge, the Englishman who dominates with 16 strokes under par, four ahead of Joel Girrbach and five over Patrick Reed and Daniel Brown. and David Puig appear as the best Spaniards with -8 compared to the -4 delivered by Jon Rahm and Luis Masaveu. Penge has one hand on the trophy after a superb third round of -7 (eight birdies and a bogey). In the other Open, on the other side of the ropes, there is an undisputed winner and it is Jon Rahm.
A crowd on a sunny Saturday at the Villa de Madrid Country Club. Jon takes another dip in the Open that he seeks to win for the fourth time, a title that slips away and with it the possibility of his only trophy of the year. Waiting to find out if he will play in any more tournaments this season, the individual record is blank for the first time in a complete course since he became a professional in 2016. Since then he has won at least two cups each season and in 2025 the count has been reduced to zero. Rahm won the LIV individual classification despite not winning any event, compared to the five that Chilean Joaquin Niemann won, and also celebrated the team crown with his Legion XIII teammates. Two weeks ago. But surprisingly in his career he has not finished first in any tournament this year.
The strange drought hurts the Basque champion, and even more so when his eldest son, Kepa, four years old, reminds him of his innocence, whom he takes from grandfather Edorta’s shoulders when the round ends and they embrace affectionately. It’s a happy consolation after a round of par with three shots too many on the back nine. “This year it has been hard for Kepa to ask me so much why I haven’t won anything individually,” says Rahm after going through the wringer of a “complicated field.” “With each failure things get very difficult. The greens They are small and very hard. I was quite surprised to throw putts that have turned out as I did not expect. You can see that the course has not recovered since the Filomena storm,” he analyzed before dedicating himself to signing autographs for more than an hour. His goal this Sunday is to “play 18 solid holes without making stupid mistakes like all week. putts short shots, wrong blows…” Especially painful was the double bogey from the par three 11th (to the exit bunker, short shot to the roughagain short and two putts) when he had lined up three birdies and a eagle in the first part of the route.
Rahm was left frozen on the table when the fans were clamoring for a comeback and he gave the Spanish leadership to Ángel Ayora and David Puig. The 21-year-old from Malaga confirmed the sensations of the previous days. The boy cannot cope with the pressure, but he resists among the best and claims a place in the elite: the American circuit, the greats… Ayora leads to that goal along traditional paths after saying no to LIV’s petrodollars.
David Puig’s path is the opposite although his dedication is the same. The 23-year-old from Barcelona, de la Garriga, is a hungry golfer with sacrifice as his flag. And one of the few young people who have grown and improved at LIV. Puig has made a living on the Asian circuit (wins in 2023 and 2024) to add points for the world classification that the Saudi League does not distribute, and thus managed to qualify together with Rahm for the last Paris Games. The boy signed up for the inaugural LIV event in June 2022 in London and in that environment he became a professional and has matured as a member of Sergio García’s Fireballs. Wherever he plays, Puig shows that he is a great puncher and that he wants to take on the world. He already fought for victory in the Spanish Open last year, third behind Ángel Hidalgo and Rahm, and this season granting the winner a ticket to the Masters and the British Open has only increased his motivation.
The task is titanic because Marco Penge has shot himself and it doesn’t seem like anyone can catch him. That Open is cherished by the 25-year-old English golfer who has already won twice this year on the European circuit. Rahm won the other Open.
