At the end of a very long day of 30 lanes, Jon Rahm stood in a flurry of camera flashes and smiled in his legendary green jacket for winning the Masters in Augusta. The 28-year-old Spaniard needed a total of 276 shots to win, staying 12 under par and once again ranking number one in the golf world. “We all dream of things like this as players and you try to imagine what it will be like and what it will feel like,” said Rahm on Sunday (local time). “I never thought I would cry because I won a golf tournament, but I came very close to the 18th hole.”
With a four-stroke lead, Rahm relegated two professionals who played for the much-criticised LIV tour, which was financed by Saudi Arabia, to shared second place: the two Americans Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka. Before the start of the final round, the pros had to finish the third round on Sunday due to the rain of the previous days and were therefore out on the pitch much longer than usual.
Superstar Tiger Woods, still suffering from the effects of his car accident, had to retire after seven holes on the third round on Sunday. He reported pain in his foot. The superstar had previously made the cut for the 23rd time in a row in Augusta, setting a record.
When Rahm set out to finish his third lap on Sunday morning after days of rain and storms, he was four strokes behind leader Koepka. Three-time Masters champion Mickelson was even ten strokes behind. But because Mickelson hit the best final round of all participants with 65 strokes – and the best by a golfer in the age group 50 and over in the history of the tournament – and Koepka afforded a round of 75, things got really exciting.
On hole 18, Rahm made a terrible tee shot that didn’t even make it onto the fairway and seemed to show nerves for a moment – but the father of two children stayed cool and still played a par at the end. On top of that, Rahm prevented the big party provocatively announced by LIV boss Greg Norman in the event of a victory by one of his pros. After the last put, he threw his arms up and a little later was donned the green jacket by last year’s winner Scottie Scheffler, who was also his predecessor as number one in the world rankings.
