Jon Rahm has gotten the hang of big-time golf right out of the chute.
Rahm, the All-American and two-time Ben Hogan Award winner from Arizona State, carded a bogey-free 7-under-par 64 in his pro debut to take a one-stroke lead over Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela after one round of the Quicken Loans National at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.
“I didn’t want to think this was going to be easy,” said the 21-year-old Rahm, who was low amateur last week in the U.S. Open with a tie for 23rd at Oakmont. “Obviously it’s not. It’s a PGA Tour event, one of the iconic courses, Tiger Woods Foundation.
“It’s obviously hard for me to keep my expectations down after a good tournament last week, but I did it and I managed to stay relaxed and get a good round going. I was anticipating this moment. I’m working on it a long time that I kind of blacked out a little bit. I don’t remember a single swing I made all day or any putting stroke or anything. I just remember the ball flying or rolling.”
Vegas bounced back from an early bogey to collect seven birdies of his own in a 65, while Jamie Lovemark of Rancho Santa Fe and USC shot 66 and was tied for third with 2013 National Champion Bill Haas, Ernie Els of South Africa, Kyle Reifers, Camilo Villegas of Colombia, Harold Varner III, Billy Hurley III and Wesley Bryan.
Marc Leishman of Australia posted a 67 and was tied for 11th with Webb Simpson, Si Woo Kim of South Korea, Charley Hoffman of Poway and UNLV, Fabian Gomez of Argentina, Steve Marino, Sam Saunders, Robert Garrigus, Mark Hubbard, John Senden of Australia and Smylie Kaufman.
Seventh-ranked Rickie Fowler, the highest-ranked player in the field, finished at 68 and was in a tie for 22nd that included No. 13 Patrick Reed.
