There has never been a Spanish winner of the U.S. Open Championship but a trio of Spaniards put themselves in a good position after round one at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
Sergio Garcia, Jon Rahm and Adri Arnaus may all be at different stages of their golfing careers but they matched each other with scores of 69 on the California coast.
Major Champion Garcia has seen it all before, while Rahm may be waiting for that first Major but is a well established star with two Rolex Series wins and a Ryder Cup appearance under his belt.
For Arnaus meanwhile, this week is his U.S. Open debut and he was delighted to be teeing it up on one of golf's biggest stages.
"It’s a nice way to start my first U.S. Open," he said. "I’m very happy, I am really pleased.
"I had good preparation for this tournament. I came here a few days early and I knew what I had to do and I went out there and executed it. Pebble is such a cool place. I came here thinking it is an amazing place but I’m sure I will go home thinking it is even better.
"Overall it was just a really solid round. I had some good opportunities for birdies, which is not an easy task here, so I am really pleased.
"It's really cool to see my name on the leaderboard at a U.S. Open but, at the end of the day, I’m just trying to see a number and chase that."
Garcia was the last Spaniard to win a Major at the 2017 Masters Tournament and he has five top tens at the United States Golf Association's flagship event.
"This game doesn't feel good at the moment," he said. "But it's as simple as that. We go through some of those stretches and, unfortunately, I'm picking the wrong part of the year to go through one of those.
"But the only thing I can do is keep fighting and try to shoot the lowest I can shoot.
"I don't think I have much of a chance of winning this week the way I'm feeling but, you know, the planets have aligned before."
Rahm looked set to take the event by storm as he started birdie-birdie-birdie and although he could not maintain that pace, he was happy with his form.
"This golf course, I think it's about as good a U.S. Open set-up as I've seen for a first round," he said. "Wind didn't blow so it made it reasonable for us to be able to shoot the score and to get after the start and keep it going and play good.
"It was a good day, just too bad I couldn't make a couple of the putts on my back nine that I had. I am happy with the start, I would have taken around even par."
