Jon Rahm overtakes Brooks Koepka to win his first Masters
AUGUSTA, Ga. — This was destined to happen.
Spaniards and the Masters have always gone together like green jackets and flowering azaleas, pimento cheese sandwiches and peach cobblers.
Jon Rahm finally won a Masters on Sunday, following in the footsteps of his Spanish idols Seve Ballesteros, Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia.
The 28-year-old Spaniard captured his first green jacket and second career major championship on what would have been the 66th birthday of the late Ballesteros, who died in 2011, and on the 40th anniversary of Seve’s second Masters victory, in 1983.
That’s how things go down at Augusta National, a place that’s saturated and steeped in history and mystique.
“This one was for Seve,’’ Rahm said. “He was up there helping … and help he did. If it wasn’t for Seve and that Ryder Cup in ’97 — my father and I talk about it all the time — I don’t know where I’d be today.’’
Rahm’s parents were at the 1997 Ryder Cup at Valderrama, where Ballesteros captained the European team to victory. That’s where they fell in love with the game, a love they would pass on to their son, who was born less than three years before that momentous event.
“To get it done in the 40th anniversary of his [1983] win, on his birthday and on Easter Sunday … it was a testament to him,’’ Rahm said. “I know he was pulling for me today.’’
When third-round play, which had been suspended by bad weather Saturday afternoon, resumed Sunday morning, Brooks Koepka was 13-under par and had a four-shot lead on Rahm as they finished the seventh hole.
Rahm birdied No. 7 and Koepka bogeyed it, reducing Koepka’s lead to two shots. That’s the way the third round ended, with Koepka at 12-under par and Rahm at 10-under.
By the time the two players walked off the fourth green in the final round, Rahm and Koepka were tied at 10-under after a Koepka bogey. Rahm seized the lead on the sixth hole, where Koepka bogeyed again.
Rahm would never lose the lead from there, defeating Koepka, who sagged to a final-round 75, and Phil Mickelson, who made a final-round charge with a 65, by four shots.
Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed and Russell Henley finished 7-under. Cameron Young and Viktor Hovland finished 6-under. Saheeth Theegala finished at 5-under. And defending champion Scottie Scheffler, who entered the week ranked No. 1 in the world and ceded that title to Rahm Sunday, finished 4-under.
Before Sunday, Koepka had held the 54-hole lead in five major championships and won four of them — the U.S. Open in 2017 and 2018 and the PGA Championship in 2018 and 2019.
Not on Sunday.
“Obviously, it’s super disappointing,’’ Koepka, a four-time major winner, said. “I didn’t play good enough to win. I just kind of played average and I didn’t get any good breaks. I tried to give it a run and it just wasn’t good enough. Congrats to Jon.’’
While Rahm was prospering and Koepka was faltering, some other drama was unfolding around Augusta, most notably 52-year-old Mickelson making a spirited final-round charge to post 8-under par as the leader in the clubhouse.
Spieth, Mickelson’s playing partner in the final round, also made a run, making nine birdies and getting it to 8-under before a bogey on 18 dropped him to 7-under.
“[Rahm] played some incredible golf all week long, and is a very worthy champion,’’ said Mickelson, whose brother and caddie, Tim, was Rahm’s coach at Arizona State. “It’s easy to see why he’s regarded as the best player in the world, and he validated that today.’’
No one was stopping “Rahmbo” on Sunday. This was his time and he refused to let go of the moment.
When he closed out with a par on the 72nd hole, Rahm raised both arms to the sky and clenched his fists. Then came a hug from Adam Hayes, his caddie who’s been with him for all of his PGA Tour wins. Koepka gave him an embrace and congratulated him.
Rahm’s wife, Kelley, and their two young children met him on the green in tears.
As Rahm walked off 18, there was Olazabal waiting in his green jacket. The two hugged and had a word in the midst of the celebratory greenside mayhem.
“He said he hopes this is the first of many more,’’ Rahm said of Olazabal’s words to him. “We both said something about Seve and, if you had given us 10 more seconds, we both would have ended up crying.’’
“He represents the game in a perfect way,’’ Olazabal said.
Rahm said he loves the history of the sport. When Olazabal won his second green jacket in 1999, Garcia was the low amateur. When Garcia won his Masters in 2017, that was Rahm’s first Masters.
Beautiful, meaningful and powerful symmetry.
Adding to the mystique of the moment, Rahm’s Masters badge number for the week and the number on Hayes’ bib was 49. Sunday was April 9 … 4/9.
Stars aligning at the mystical place in golf.
