Welcome To Boston? Jon Rahm Has Comical Reaction After Kids Steal Golf Ball

BROOKLINE — It seems there’s a pair of golf ball bandits walking freely among spectators at The Country Club for the 2022 U.S. Open.

Jon Rahm arrived to where his tee shot on the par-4 18th hole landed, but after a marshal placed a flag in the ground to mark Rahm’s ball in the left rough, it was no where to be found.

“Somebody — I’m pretty sure I know who it was. I recognized the two kids that were running the opposite way with a smile on their face,” Rahm said with a smirk of his own. “I am 100% sure I saw the two kids that stole it.”

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Rahm didn’t take the theft too seriously given that he converted a 21-foot birdie putt after finding the green with his approach shot. Rahm was allowed a free drop by the rules official.

“I’m just really happy somebody spotted the ball first. We knew exactly where it was,” Rahm said. “Off the tee I was comfortable. I was past all the trees. It was downwind, and that’s why it kind of took — I wasn’t trying to go that far left, but I was trying to take it over the trees and over the bunkers.

“After the free relief, I had 135 yards to the pin, in an area where the rough wasn’t that thick,” Rahm continued. “I don’t think they expected anybody to hit it there or be around there, so I was able to drop it in an area that was a little downgrain, and I wasn’t in jeopardy of carrying the bunker. That wasn’t really a concern.”

Rahm’s birdie putt on the 18th helped him finished 1-under par 69.

He added three frontside birdies on the par-4 5th, par-3 6th and par-5 8th to go complement the final hole. Bogies on the par-4 3rd, par-4 9th and par-4 15th hindered Rahm from scoring better.

Rahm, who played in a crowd-gathering group alongside fellow major champion Collin Morikawa, was two strokes back of the lead upon finishing his opening round Thursday.