Jon Rahm had a debut to forget at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic after missing the cut on his first trip to Emirates Golf Club.
Having been a tour pro for nine years, the two-time major winner had never played the Middle East’s longest established tournament before this week.
There were expectations that the former world No 1 might challenge for the Dallah Trophy, despite not having played a full 18 holes at the Majlis before Wednesday’s Pro Am.
He started steadily enough, shooting 3-under in the opening round, but the good vibes dissipated rapidly on Friday morning, though, as the Spaniard unravelled.
He double bogeyed to par-4 12th – his third hole of the day – after sending both his second and third shots into bushes.
Worse was to come six holes later, at the 18th. Players of Rahm’s calibre regard the par-5 finishing hole as a scoring opportunity. Instead, Rahm made another double bogey after finding the water in front of the green twice.
His 5-over-par 77 meant he finished on 2-over for his two rounds, which is two strokes worse than the projected cut.
Rahm was sanguine about the experience, and said he will happily return for “redemption” next year if his schedule permits.
“I absolutely love the golf course, absolutely love the setup,” Rahm said, before joking about the way he handled the 18th.
“There is nothing I could see bad about this tournament this week – [except] maybe the fairway on 18. Besides that, it’s a fantastic golf course.
“I was telling [playing partner Adam Scott], you don't usually see rough that long and thick outside of major championships.
“I think it shows the test. If the schedule allows, I would like to be here next year and hopefully get some redemption.
“Because I do believe this is a golf course and a tournament, if I were to play 20 years, I would win. I like it. It seems like the type of golf that I like to play.”
Rahm said no part of his game had functioned well in Round 2.
“Yesterday was good, I was quite happy with it, but today, not really.
“I wouldn’t say that there was anything that went well. No part of the game today was even average to what I would like to feel. Missed too many fairways, and I had two penalty strokes on the same hole.
“It's a difficult day and I just couldn't take advantage of some of the opportunities I had. Even at the end of the day, tee-to-green wasn't very good.”
Rahm had said ahead of the event he was happy to get back into work mode ahead of his season starting in LIV Golf.
Even though his debut round the Majlis was half as long as he might have hoped, he is still optimistic about what lies ahead.
“It is not the way you want to start the year, but if there's any positive side of it is it is the beginning of the year,” he said.
“There's a lot of golf and a lot of months to look forward to. I have a pretty clear idea of what I need to work on. So these next two weeks, I need to go home and try to get better.”
