Jon Rahm’s strong Spanish Open start has him eyeing Ryder Cup legend in history books

Jon Rahm is back in his home country for the Spanish Open, being held at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid for a fourth consecutive year.

The Spaniard got off to a strong start, carding a 4-under 67 Thursday, as he sits four strokes behind leader Matthieu Pavon of France.

“It’s a good score,” Rahm said Thursday. “You can’t win it on the first day, but I put myself in a good position.”

Indeed, Rahm is in a solid place after day one as he looks to win his fourth Spanish Open title.

He has won three of the last four Spanish Opens, tied with fellow Spaniard—and his childhood hero—Seve Ballesteros for most career victories at their national open.

“I’m assuming I’m going to hear [Seve’s] name a few times this week,” Rahm said ahead of the tournament.

“It would be a true honor. I want to surpass him, but in a weird sense, I think with the great Seve, it’s an odd feeling to think that I might be ahead of him in any category. But at the end of the day, it is what we strive for.”

Ballesteros is regarded as one of the greatest golfers ever to play.

He played a significant role on the European Ryder Cup teams in the 1980s and 1990s.

He also won the Masters twice and The Open Championship three times. His triumph over Tom Watson at St. Andrews in 1984 is widely regarded as one of the greatest moments in golf history.

Ballesteros’ presence is still felt today, as Team Europe displayed an old shirt of his in their locker room at Marco Simone. A banner with his image was displayed on the first tee, too.

“Anytime my name is anywhere remotely closely related to any of the great Spanish players, it’s absolutely amazing,” Rahm added.

Funny enough, Ballesteros was known to be quite wayward off the tee. His ability to escape from trouble and get up and down from seemingly everywhere made him the stuff of legend. That’s where the term ‘Seve par’ comes from.

Nevertheless, Rahm played exactly the opposite on Thursday.

“I feel like I drove it so well,” Rahm said after his round.

“I wish I had taken advantage of a couple of opportunities. I put myself in the right spots often enough and even struggled to make a birdie on par fives after two great shots. But besides that, it was a really good organized round of golf. Hopefully, I can keep hitting it like that and make a few putts the rest of the week.”

Rahm ranked first in strokes gained off the tee on Thursday despite missing five fairways. On three of those occasions, however, his drive came to rest in the first cut, meaning he could still put spin on the ball and hold the greens.

Like Ballesteros always did, Rahm has a huge following on his home soil.

“The beauty of [the Spanish Open] is maybe when I’m not hitting my best shots, I can use that crowd to my advantage,” Rahm explained. “That moment on 18, where I made a bogey, and then when I made a great par on one, you know using the crowd energy and turning around and playing golf was key. I was glad I was able to do that.”

If Rahm can keep finding fairways, he will have a great chance to surpass Ballesteros. Everyone on the grounds in Madrid—and all of Spain for that matter—is clearly pulling for him to do so.

The two-time major champion begins his second round at the Spanish Open on Friday at 8:00 a.m. ET.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.