Jon Rahm had several reasons to shout (bilingually) against the golf gods after his first hole of the event was a four-putt, he received a poor draw, he had to play through difficult winter weather, and more.
Jon Rahm wins at the Masters.
But Jon Rahm had an inner-game ally, someone who just wouldn’t let him turn to the dark side. Rahm shot 69 to rally from behind and win the 87th Masters Tournament by four strokes over Brooks Koepka (75) and Phil Mickelson (65). All the way up to the point where Rahm brushed away tears as he walked to the 18th green, saved par, and hugged his caddy, wife, and two young children, a better angel who was in his ear was there.
When Rahm calmed down to score 65 on Thursday, an ally remarked, “If you’re going to make a double or four-putt or something, it may as well be the first hole.”
Rahm was two strokes behind Koepka when play was suspended on Saturday with 11 or more holes remaining in his third round. Professor Positive noted: “A lot of holes. Just keep going while feeling happy and strong. As Rahm said, still two back after his third round, “Feeling comfortable, playing good, swinging well…”
This Masters, like life, was about how you looked at it since Rahm himself was the mental game Svengali in Rahm’s corner. It was difficult to build a storyline for the first half of it because rounds no longer ended when days did.
Rahm didn’t linger over that aspect. While Koepka played the opening eight holes of the final round in 2 over (bogeys at the par-3 fourth and sixth), he played them in 2 under (birdies at the par-4 third and par-5 eighth) to take the lead and win the event.
Rahm stated that “what is happening on the exterior is not necessarily a mirror of what is going on within.” “I was serene. I never lost my temper. Never did I really feel like things were under control. Yet it’s clear that you’re anxious. There is strife outside.
He said, “I didn’t like making bogey on the ninth hole in particular since Mickelson and Jordan Spieth (66, T4, five behind) had just made a barrage of birdies.” Yet in the end, it made no difference.
Victory.
A green jacket for @JonRahmPGA 💚pic.twitter.com/nunryErgkZ
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 9, 2023
It was Rahm’s sixth victory in his previous 12 PGA TOUR or DP World Tour appearances. Rahm now sits atop the global Jon Rahm rankings after winning his second major championship, the 2021 U.S. Open, and earning his 11th PGA TOUR title.
He came from seven back (to Collin Morikawa) at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January, the pinnacle of his never-say-die attitude on his expanding record of comebacks, thanks to his patience and confidence that his stuff will prevail over four rounds.
The four-shot gap between them and Koepka as the third round resumed on Sunday? Please. At the seventh hole, Rahm hammered in a 9-foot birdie putt as Koepka missed a chance to save par from 11 feet, increasing the lead by two more strokes. Each player signed for a 73, leaving them two shots down. two times? At Augusta National, especially, that is nothing.
The final round wasn’t all that close since Koepka didn’t score a birdie until hole 13—when it was already too late. With five holes remaining, Rahm had a birdie of his own and had covered the hole.
Rahm, 28, was once capable of becoming his own greatest adversary, but now he is the exact last person a leader wants to look back on. That included some immaturity.
He said earlier this season, “I mean, I went from being in college to being top 10 in the world in nine months from 2016 to 2017.” In fact, he finished T3 in the Quicken Loans National at Congressional in June 2016 when making his professional debut, scored his maiden win at the Farmers Insurance Open in January 2017, and ended T2 at the Charles Schwab Challenge in May of the same year. He rose from Arizona State Sun Devil to ninth in the world as a consequence of those accomplishments and several additional top-10 finishes.
The period of adaption was too short, he claimed, and his subsequent year wasn’t as successful. “Being in college, when no one knows you exist, to being a celebrity, is not something anyone can be prepared for.”
When Rahm birdied 13 and 14 to eliminate any question, Jon Rah it was impressive to see him draw away from Koepka on the back nine. He has developed a level of mental toughness to match his deadly skill set and is at ease in his own skin.
Rahm entered this week as the top-ranked FedExCup player and with three victories on the year, much like Scottie Scheffler did last year. With his fourth victory, he became the fourth winner of the Spanish Masters, joining Seve Ballesteros (1980, ’83), José Mara Olazábal (1994, ’99), and Sergio Garcia on the list (2017). Ballesteros, who passed away in 2011, would have been 66 on Sunday.
Also Read : Jon Rahm wins the 2023 Masters with ease, giving the Spanish his second major triumph.
Rahm was not distracted by that moment of synergy or anything else, though it may have been.
“Seve! Seve! Seve!’ kept repeating in my head. “Do it for Seve.” said Rahm. All throughout the back nine, I heard that. The emotion that came with knowing what would happen if I were to win might have been the thing that was hardest to manage today.
The premium ball-strikers, particularly those who could force their way through the conditions, were propelled to the head of the line by the lengthy, harsh course that the cold, wet weather made possible.
Cameron Young, a long-hitter, remarked after Jon Rah suffering a third-round 75, “Most of the struggle out there is just trying to maintain yourself in some type of brain place where you can operate.”
The sun was out and it was in the low 60s when the final round started. No one was able to get that lofty score; 65 was the most anybody could do. Rahm’s blood pressure was in the area of cool over calculated, despite the lack of data master.
His arsenal now includes the long game, short game, and mental game. Jon Rahm is the worst nightmare for anyone who wants to win one of the major tournaments in the near future.