Jon Rahm drowns out drama and fireworks on his way to Masters title

Amidst everything going on around him on the grounds of Augusta National on Sunday, Jon Rahm ignored it all as he captured his first career Masters title

The roars, washed away the past two days by rain that made an already-lengthened Augusta National play longer than the game’s best players had ever seen it, came back on Sunday. Phil Mickelson, at age 52, was making a charge. Jordan Spieth was having a round that has become his trademark as he moved up the leaderboard. Brooks Koepka, like Mickelson a LIV Golf defector, was trying to hold on to his fragile lead.

Through it all, Jon Rahm stood the tallest on his way to donning the iconic Green Jacket. He drowned out all the noise, all the drama, and the golf’s best player pulled away to win his first Masters title and second major championship.

Rahm quickly made up the two-shot deficit he faced in the final twosome with Koepka. His only mistake of the day came at the ninth, when Rahm, toppling Koepka from atop the leaderboard for the first time in two days, saw his approach shot spin back off the false front of the green. Mickelson was in front of him posting the best score he ever had in more than three decades of playing Augusta National. Spieth ran up six birdies in the middle of his round. Even Patrick Reed was climbing up the leaderboard, waiting for the leader to fall apart under the pressure.

Rahm never did. Stepping to the tee on the par-five 13th, which has been lengthened by 40 yards this year, Rahm could’ve played it safe and made it a two-shot hole. He instead took out his driver, played a perfect draw around the corner, and left himself in the middle of the fairway. He made birdie from there. On the next hole, Rahm hooked his second shot from the second cut onto the green and watched as it funneled down to tap-in range. The tournament was essentially over then, and Rahm, who got up and down to save par on the last, finished at 12-under, four ahead of Mickelson and Koepka.

Jon Rahm honors his legendary countryman as he brings another Green Jacket to Spain

The win carried special significance for Rahm, who became the fourth player from his native Spain to win the Masters. Seve Ballesteros was the first. This year was the 40th anniversary of Ballesteros’ second Green Jacket. It also would’ve been his 66th birthday. Rahm met his idol only once, when he was 12 years old and almost forgot to shake his hand. His parents introduced him to the game after watching Ballesteros captain the European team at the 1997 Ryder Cup held at Valderrama in his home country. Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia followed in Seve’s footsteps, and now Rahm has joined him in golf’s most exclusive club.

“History of the game is a big part of why I play and one of the reasons why I play, and Seve being one of them,” he said while accepting the Green Jacket in Butler Cabin. “For me to get it done on the 40th anniversary of his win, his birthday, on Easter Sunday, it’s incredibly meaningful. To finish it off the way I did, an unusual par, very much a Seve par, it was…a testament to him, and I know he was pulling for me today, and it was a great Sunday.”

For all the history behind Rahm’s triumph, there was also plenty of drama simmering below the surface of his final-round battle with Koepka. The Masters was the first major featuring LIV players competing against PGA players. Mickelson was suing Augusta National for antitrust violations and notably stayed silent during the traditional Champion’s Dinner on Tuesday. A win by Koepka would’ve solidified everything the nascent tour has tried to build over the last year. Greg Norman never won the Masters as a player, but if one of his guys wore the Green Jacket on Sunday, he would’ve had reason to gloat for the rest of the year.

Rahm, who has made his loyalty to the PGA Tour well-known, ignored all that while he chased down, then surpassed Koepka and held off Mickelson. Rahm usually carries his emotions on his sleeve. Today, in the biggest round of his 28-year-old life, he remained outwardly calm and composed.

“What’s going on in the outside is not always a reflection of what’s going on in the inside. I was calm. I never got frustrated. I never felt like anything was out of control. But obviously, you’re nervous. There’s tension out there,” he said. “I’m glad that’s the way it looked. That’s what you strive for. You never want to panic. I never panicked. I felt comfortable with my game. I had a plan to execute and that’s all I can do.”

Rahm is only the seventh player to win both the Masters and U.S. Open before the age of 30. He’s the first European player ever to win both of those major titles. He was chasing history just as much as he was Koepka today.

Spain has another major champion, one who showed he can build on what his legendary idol did four decades ago. Rahm came to Augusta National as one of the pre-tournament favorites this week; he leaves it on another pantheon of greats and clad in green.

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