Rahm drawing a crowd at Quicken
Jon Rahm was surprised about the level of fan support he has received at the Quicken Loans National, far away from his native Spain and where he went to school at Arizona State.
It helped Rahm was playing with local guy Bobby Hurley III and helped even more the two players went shot-for-shot Friday to share the lead. Rahm and Hurley were tied at 11 under, three strokes ahead of Vijay Singh going into the weekend at Congressional.
Rahm, who’s playing his first event as a professional, said he couldn’t be happier by following a great first round with a second-round 67.
“I’m just lucky to be here today,” said Rahm, who led Thursday after a 64. “If you told me 10 years ago when I was 11 years old that I would be leading a PGA Tour event when I was 21, I wouldn’t believe you.”
Rahm would’ve had sole possession of the lead had he not missed a 10-foot par putt on the 18th hole. As a result, he was tied with Hurley, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate who lives in nearby Annapolis and grew up in Leesburg, Va.
Hearing chants of the Annapolis zip code and more from the galleries, Hurley shot a 6-under 65.
“I just hit a lot of good shots,” Hurley said. “I was just able to keep the pedal down and continue to attack the golf course, which is not something you usually do around Congressional. But being soft I was able to take advantage of the conditions and get the ball a little closer to the hole than you’re used to.”
Before Rahm and Hurley even got onto the Blue Course on Friday, Singh put on a show to rival what Ernie Els did Thursday. Singh turned in a 66 that was most memorable for his shot from the edge of the water on No. 18.
Locally, Steve Wheatcroft was at 2-over par and failed to make the cut.
Uehara leads LPGA event: Japan’s Ayako Uehara matched the course record with a 9-under 62 to take the first-round lead in the LPGA Tour’s NW Arkansas Championship.
Uehara, who entered the event at Pinnacle Country Club ranked 214th in the world and without a top-10 finish this year, needed only 25 putts in her bogey-free round. She was 6 under on her final nine, birdieing the last two holes to best a 63 she shot in Malaysia in 2014.
Top-ranked Lydia Ko opened with a 66, and local favorite Stacy Lewis had a 67.
Waynesburg’s Rachel Rohanna is at 5-over 76, 14 strokes back.
Two tied for Champions lead: Estaban Toledo and Gene Sauers each shot 9-under 63 to share the first-round lead in the PGA Tour Champions’ inaugural American Family Insurance Championship.
Toledo made five straight birdies on his first nine at University Ridge, added three more on Nos. 1, 2 and 4 and capped his bogey-free round with another on the par-5 ninth. The 53-year-old Mexican player won the Allianz Championship in February for his fourth senior title.