Seve Ballesteros. Jose Maria Olazabal. Sergio Garcia.
Key points:
- Jon Rahm, who turned 26 on Tuesday, is yet to win a major, but is one of the favourites for the Masters
- He has now hit two holes-in-one in practice at Augusta this week — including a phenomenal shot at the par-three 16th
- He is hoping to produce Spain’s sixth Masters title, after two each for Seve Ballesteros and Jose-Maria Olazabal, and one for Sergio Garcia
Jon Rahm would love to add his name to the list of Spanish Masters champions.
And so far, he’s having quite a time at Augusta ahead of this week’s tournament.
In practice on Monday, Rahm made a hole-in-one on the fourth hole with a five-iron.
And then on Tuesday, during the traditional attempt to skip a ball over the pond in front of the 16th green, Rahm hit a four-iron that bounced at least three times on the surface of the water, clipped the embankment and rolled all the way around the back of the green and into the hole.
“The craziest thing. The second hole-in-one of the week,” he said.
“I knew it would be a special week given it’s my birthday today, so I’m hoping it’s the beginning of a lot of good things to come.”
Rahm told reporters of his reverence for Spain’s history at the tournament, calling Ballesteros, Olazabal and Garcia “three idols of mine”.
“Five green jackets go out to Spain. Hopefully, I can be the sixth,” he said.
Loading
A two-time winner this year who rose to number one in the world for the first time in his career, Rahm’s lack of a major victory remains the biggest hole in his resume.
He has come close at Augusta National, posting top 10s in his past two trips here, including a fourth-place finish in 2018.
Rahm, who turned 26 on Tuesday, said he had not lost the thrill of playing at Augusta National.
“I always get the same feel as I did the first time when I go down Magnolia Lane,” he said.
Loading
Rahm arrives at Augusta after a breakthrough year in which he won two events including the Memorial — his first season with multiple PGA Tour victories — to finish fourth in the Tour playoff standings.
He has 11 wins worldwide since he turned pro in 2016 and joins Justin Thomas, Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson as the only players with at least one PGA Tour win in each of the past four seasons.
Rahm finished second in his most-recent event, a PGA Tour tournament at Sherwood in California.
“I can’t lie, I’m feeling pretty confident,” he said.
“I think the best way I can explain it (is) I’m simply happy, outside the golf course, I’m happy, within the limits of now this pandemic, and I’m also happy on the golf course. … Hopefully something special happens this weekend.”
If so, he would carry on a tradition that began with Ballesteros’s victory in 1980 (he also won in ’83), and continued with Olazabal (1994, ’99) and Garcia (2017). Garcia withdrew from this year’s tournament after testing positive for COVID-19.
Garcia said he began to have a sore throat and a cough when he was driving home to Austin, Texas, on Saturday night after missing the cut in the Houston Open. It’s the first major Garcia will miss since the 1999 US Open.
“A little bit sad that Sergio is not going to be able to be part of this. My heart goes out to him,” Rahm said.
“Knowing how special this week is for him, hoping a speedy recovery for him.”
Rahm said he had barely eaten out since the pandemic started. He uses his own towel and doesn’t approach anyone on the tee box.
Although he high-fived a caddie and fellow player Rickie Fowler after his hole-in-one on Tuesday, that will have to do it for the hoopla.
AP
