Memorable Masters ends with Rahm slipping into green jacket

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — By the point Jon Rahm walked up the 18th fairway on Sunday, and made like his late idol Seve Ballesteros with a superb par save to complete off the Masters, the truth that the Spaniard could be quickly slipping into the inexperienced jacket had lengthy been determined.

Probably the most eventful of tournaments had a most uneventful end.

That was owed to the brilliance of Rahm, who started Sunday 4 photographs again of Brooks Koepka as gamers arrived early to complete a 3rd spherical that had been suspended by climate. He lower his deficit two two by the top of the spherical, pulled forward on the entrance 9 of the ultimate spherical, and closed with a 69 for a four-shot victory over Koepka and Phil Mickelson.

“All of us dream of issues like this as gamers, and also you attempt to visualize what it’s going to be like and what it’s going to really feel like,” stated Rahm, who had three rounds within the 60s to complete at 12 underneath for the championship.

“By no means thought I used to be going to cry by profitable a golf match,” he stated, “however I acquired very shut on that 18th gap.”

In fact, there was a lot to giggle and cry and cringe about throughout an eventful week at Augusta Nationwide.

It started with questions of whether or not the contingent of 18 gamers from the Saudi-funded LIV Golf circuit would have the ability to compete, and the way they might be handled each by these they’d spurned and people behind the gallery ropes.

Seems they nonetheless have loads of sport.

Koepka set the tempo from the second he tapped in for an opening-round 65 till the ultimate 9 on Sunday, when some poor photographs and worse luck helped Rahm to overhaul him. However there was Mickelson, who in some methods has develop into the fulcrum of the LIV Golf-PGA Tour divide, ending with 65 on Sunday to hitch Koepka in second place.

Patrick Reed made it three LIV Golf gamers within the high six together with his final-round 68, leaving him tied for fourth with Jordan Spieth and Russell Henley. In all, 12 of the 18 made the lower, and so they proved that their shorter schedules — they’d performed simply three occasions this season — and shorter three-round tournaments had not dulled their sport one bit.

“It was thrilling this match rose above all of it to have the most effective gamers on this planet right here, and misplaced all of the pettiness,” stated the 52-year-old Mickelson, the oldest runner-up in Masters historical past. “There may be all the time going to be and will all the time be a spot for historic occasions like this, however it’s OK to have a bit of bit of various and selection within the sport of golf.”

The barbs traded main as much as the Masters — Fred {Couples} calling Mickelson a “nutbag,” Sergio Garcia ripping the PGA Tour in return — appeared to be forgotten when Jack Nicklaus, Gary Participant and Tom Watson hit the ceremonial first photographs Thursday.

They definitely turned an afterthought when the Masters became a check of wills.

That occurred late Friday, when scorching, humid climate gave technique to whipping winds that introduced down three pine timber close to the seventeenth tee field, and pounding rain that stored the second spherical from ending. The rain continued Saturday, when gamers returned to the course and tried to get by way of the third, which likewise was suspended when Augusta Nationwide turned waterlogged.

In between, some historical past was made: The 63-year-old {Couples} turned the oldest participant to make the lower, and Tiger Woods additionally made it on the quantity, matching the file of {Couples} and Participant of 23 consecutive cuts made on the Masters.

Woods withdrew early Sunday when his plantar fasciitis returned, the primary time the five-time champion had failed to complete the Masters as knowledgeable. Now, the query is whether or not he’ll play the PGA Championship at Oak Hill in simply over a month.

Rahm shall be there. He all of a sudden has two legs of the profession grand slam within the bag, and desires the PGA and British Open to complete it off. And given the best way he performed Sunday, Rahm figures to be the favourite nearly in every single place.

He trailed Koepka by two once they returned to Augusta Nationwide early Sunday to complete their third rounds, and lower the deficit in half nearly instantly. The 2 went shot-for-shot the remainder of the spherical, and the U.S. Open champion at Torrey Pines was nonetheless two photographs behind Koepka once they began the ultimate spherical.

Koepka started to break down, although. The birdies dried up the and bogeys multiplied, and at one level he went 22 straight holes and not using a birdie. Rahm had no such hassle, seizing the opening to construct a lead that no person might contact.

The lasting picture from a memorable Masters got here when Rahm walked off the 18th inexperienced within the twilight.

On the birthdate of Ballesteros, and the fortieth anniversary of his profitable a second Masters title, Rahm had certainly one of his personal. He embraced his spouse and two kids, then hugged two-time Masters champion José María Olazábal, who had caught round to see whether or not his fellow Spaniard might be part of him in essentially the most unique of firm.

“Which may have been the toughest factor to manage at this time, is the emotion of figuring out what it could possibly be if I had been to win,” Rahm stated later. “Which may have been the toughest factor.”

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