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Stefan Tonev
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Jon Rahm stays hot, rockets to Bay Hill lead
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The Spaniard closed eagle-birdie-birdie for a 7-under 65 and a two-shot lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational

Jon Rahm, who returned to the top of the world rankings last week, began on Thursday is round strong and ended it even better, closing eagle-birdie-birdie for a seven-under 65 and a two-shot lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Not even the brute test of Bay Hill was a match for golf’s hottest player.

“Amazing round of golf,” Rahm said. “I wish all of them were as enjoyable as this one.”

He started his round strong and ended it even better, closing eagle-birdie-birdie for a seven-under 65 and a two-shot lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Rahm already has three PGA Tour wins this year, and has won five of his last nine tournaments worldwide.

“Go through the round and you’ll see plenty of mistakes,” the Spaniard said. “I just took advantage of minimizing mistakes and converted a couple of situations into really good scores. But it can always be better.”

“But it’s the first day,” he added. “Ask me that on Sunday if I keep playing like this, and I’ll probably change my answer.”

The Spaniard held steady the rest of the way until his big burst at the end allowed him to fly past Honda Classic winner Chris Kirk and Cameron Young.

He hit only eight fairways today, he twice found himself trapped behind the trees, one of those times he managed to escape with par, holing a 30-foot putt on the 15th hole.

But it was his finish that was most impressive.

Rahm hit 5-iron to 25 feet on the fringe at the par-5 16th and holed it for eagle. On the par-3 17th, he hammered a 7-iron that cleared the bunker and landed in just the right spot to roll out to two feet.

And on the closing hole, he hit a soft 9-iron to a front pin that settled about six feet away.