Rahm wins green jacket, claims second major championship

(Photo via Ben Parris/WCSN)

(Photo via Ben Parris/WCSN)

AUGUSTA, GA — Sun Devil Golf alum Jon Rahm could have easily been counted out of the 2023 playing of the Masters Tournament when he four-putted and made double bogey on his first hole of the tournament on Thursday. Three days later, Rahm held off Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson on golf’s greatest stage to win the Masters by four shots and dawn the illustrious green jacket.

“It’s hard to put it into words. Obviously, we all dream of things like this as players,” Rahm said. “You try to visualize what it’s going to be like and what it’s going to feel like. When I hit that third shot on the green, and I could tell it was close by the crowds’ reaction, the wave of emotion of so many things overtook me. I never thought I was going to cry winning a golf tournament, but I got very close on that 18^th hole.”

After his first round, the 28-year-old Rahm quoted his hero, fellow Spaniard, and two-time Masters Champion Seve Ballesteros when saying, “I miss, I miss, I miss, I make,” to describe his first hole Thursday morning. He would go on to play the rest of the course at 9-under-par to shoot 65 to gain a share of the lead after the first round.

Fast forward to Saturday afternoon, while paired with Brooks Koepka and amateur Sam Bennett in the day’s final grouping, Rahm would face a four-shot deficit when play was suspended for weather after completing just six holes. The delay would carry the conclusion of the third round to Sunday morning and set up a 30-hole day for Rahm and Koepka on Sunday.

When play resumed over 17 hours later, Rahm immediately cut Koepka’s lead in half when making a nine-foot birdie putt on the seventh green while Koepka would make a bogey. The two would both finish the round shooting one-over-par 71s, giving Koepka, a four-time major champion, a two-shot lead heading into the final round.

“What’s going on, on the outside, is not always a reflection of the inside,” Rahm said about staying collected during the tournament. “I was calm, I never got frustrated, and I never really felt like anything was out of control. Obviously, you’re nervous, there’s tension out there.”

Rahm and Koepka would both make pars on the first two holes of the final round on Sunday afternoon, but Rahm would strike first by making birdie on the par-4 third hole after hitting his approach shot to 10 feet to get within one shot of the lead. A hole later, Koepka would make bogey and give Rahm a share of the lead for the time since Thursday afternoon.

“I like to stay aggressive, as it shows with my play on 16. The second I try to play for pars is when I think a big number comes into play,” Rahm said about the transition from chasing the lead to being the one holding it. “With how good I was swinging I like to stay aggressive and if I have a three-shot lead, try to make it four, and if it’s four, try to make it five.”

Two holes later, Rahm would two putt to take the solo lead to the seventh hole after a Koepka bogey and extend his lead to two shots two holes later.

After making his lone bogey of the round on the ninth, Rahm made pars on holes 10-12 and a birdie on 11, while holding off players like Jordan Spieth (-7), Patrick Reed (-7), and fellow Sun Devil Phil Mickelson (-8) who made late charges up the leaderboard. Mickelson shot a 7-under-par 65 on Sunday, the lowest round by a player over the age of 50 in Masters Tournament history to finish in solo second.

With a three-shot lead with five holes to play, Rahm his one of the biggest shots of his career on the 14^th hole, sticking his approach to four feet before tapping in for birdie and a five-shot lead with four holes to play.

Rahm was met on the 18^th tee box with heaving applause from the patrons at Augusta National Golf Club. He hit his tee shot short of the fairway and was left with 236 yards. He left his second shot to 68 yards and got up and down for par to go bogey-free on his second nine and become the second Sun Devil to win the Masters.

During his time as a Sun Devil, Rahm had one of the greatest athletic careers in Arizona State history by being awarded the Jack Nicklaus Player of the Year Award in 2016 and the Ben Hogan Award twice, being named a two-time PING First-Team All-American, winning the Pac-12 individual title in 2016 and the Thunderbird Collegiate three different times, along with finishing his career as the top ranked amateur golfer in the world.

Rahm also holds the lowest score in Sun Devil Golf history, 61, which he shot at the 2013 NCAA National Championship. He won 11 events during his collegiate career, which is second in program history behind Phil Mickelson (16), and finished tied for fifth in the WM Phoenix Open, playing as an amateur during his junior season.

“You can’t get those years back,” Rahm told WCSN in February at the WM Phoenix Open about his career as ASU. “Those four years were really important for me, I needed them, not everyone does, luckily I went to really fun school like ASU.”

His victory at the Masters is his second major victory after winning the US Open at Torrey Pines Golf Club in 2021. It is his fourth victory of the season having already captured the American Express Championship, The Genesis Invitational, and Century Tournament of Champions. His win at Augusta moves him back to the number one position in the Official World Golf Ranking.