Frustrated Rahm argues with marshal during 1-over round at Spanish Open, Lowry struggles

MADRID (AP) – Jon Rahm and Shane Lowry struggled in their return to action after helping Europe win the Ryder Cup, with Rahm briefly arguing with a marshal who tried to cheer him up during the Spanish Open on Thursday.

After his drive found the left rough on the par-4 eighth hole, Rahm saw his lie and started complaining: “What a day, what a day,” he said, followed by an expletive.

The marshal who marked his ball said “It’s OK,” and Rahm immediately looked at him and said: “Don’t tell me it’s OK, please. Thank you.”

The marshal apologized as he walked away, while Rahm continued complaining: “It’s not OK.”

Rahm made a par on the hole, but then bogeyed the next – his last of the day – to finish with a round of 1-over 72. He holed a bunker shot for an eagle on the par-5 14th, but his round included only one birdie and four bogeys.

“I’m frustrated. I’m so angry,” he said after the round. “I didn’t feel like my swing was bad, I just struggled with the wind, to be honest.

“It’s golf. You can win a major, and come Thursday there’s another tournament going on – everybody’s already forgotten,” he said. “It’s part of the deal; it’s a blessing and a curse. In a sense, when you win, you can quickly get over it. You move on to the next tournament. And if you have a bad week, again, you get over it, because there’s always another one following.”

Rahm played in the same group as Lowry, who made the clinching Ryder Cup putt for the Europeans in New York last month, when the raucous home crowd tormented the European players from the start. Rahm said while in Madrid that the Ryder Cup was the toughest week mentally of his career.

Lowry shot a 4-over 75 in his opening round at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid. The Irishman had six bogeys and two birdies.

The clubhouse leaders were Frenchman Ugo Coussaud and Englishman Sam Bairstow, who shot rounds of 6-under 65. They were one shot ahead of Austrian Bernd Wiesberger, Englishman Marco Penge and Frenchman Frederic Lacroix.

“Many, many great shots close to the pin,” Coussaud said, “especially on the two par-fives, and I made the two good putts, so just a great day. I had a few bad shots as well but I recovered quite nicely so I’m very happy with today.”

Rahm is trying to win a record fourth Spanish Open title and surpass Seve Ballesteros as the tournament’s most successful golfer since the creation of the European tour in 1972. Rahm is making his seventh appearance in Madrid, with his victories coming in 2018, 2019 and 2022. He was runner-up to fellow Spaniard Ángel Hidalgo in a playoff last year.

Ballesteros won the last of his 50 titles on the European tour at the Spanish Open in 1995.

It is the first time the tournament offers an automatic spot in next year’s Masters and the British Open to the winner.

World No. 1 tennis player Carlos Alcaraz, also a Spaniard, was among those following Rahm in Thursday’s opening round in Madrid.