Jon Rahm says winning is all the motivation he needs as he prepares for the weekend at the 2022 acciona Open de España presented by Madrid.
The home favourite is two shots off the lead, held by Stephen Gallacher and Paul Waring, after a rollercoaster 68 in his second round at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.
Rahm, a winner of this event in 2018 and 2019, would match the record set by Seve Ballesteros if he could land his national Open for a third time.
When asked about how he will approach the weekend, Rahm said: "Winning is the only motivator. It is very easy to think about circumstances outside of myself, those can be tricky to manage if you can get out of it. I just have to focus on me, keep doing what I am doing, and take one shot at a time."
Rahm was just a shot off the pace after round one and had plenty of backing but it was a frustrating start for him and his fans.
Four straight pars were followed by a bogey at the fifth, but he turned for home under par for his round after birdies at the seventh and eighth, sinking short putts at both.
Rahm made a sloppy start to his back nine with two straight bogeys but he knocked in a 21-footer for birdie at the 12th, picked up another shot on 13 and was close to eagle at 14, tapping in for birdie after just missing from 23 feet.
He birdied the 16th to get within two and had a huge look at getting within a shot but missed from just under five feet at the last.
He said: “I played what I could say 11 uncomfortable holes and then I played really good golf on the last seven. From 12 on I played wonderful, it was very, very enjoyable. It seems to be the part of the golf course that I score on more often so I hope to get a little bit better on the front nine tomorrow.
“It is not always easy to back up a really strong round. Morning conditions are a lot easier than the afternoon, and some people posted a score. Obviously the goal is to reach that but when you start the way I did, I was just putting myself with goals.
"When I was on six and I made that par, I told (caddie) Adam (Hayes), hopefully we get under par when we get to ten and I did, and maybe we can steal one or two on 12 and 13 before we get to 14. I happened to make a couple in there. So I took it almost three holes at a time, and that got me going, so after 14 I was back in it."
