How Jon Rahm won the 2023 Masters, his second major championship
AUGUSTA, Ga. — This past Tuesday, before Jon Rahm’s life changed again, he walked Augusta National for a pre-Masters practice round alongside two of his heroes, fellow Spaniards José María Olazábal and Sergio Garcia.
They talked about it.
They talked about all of it.
The poetic symmetry. What it would mean. What it would mean if Rahm, maybe the best player in the world at the moment, could navigate this place and claim his first green jacket. A win this week? It would come on the birthday of the man they all call a hero — Severiano Ballesteros — winner of the 1980 and ’83 Masters. Seve would’ve turned 66 on Sunday. It would’ve been the anniversary of his second win.
Rahm knows all of this because he cares.
He cares about his home country. Raised in the town of Barrika on the northern coast of Spain, he goes out of his way to return home to play in the Spanish Open. He understands not only that he should play, but that needs to do so in order to pay it forward. Rahm first met Olazábal when he was 14 at a junior competition in Spain. Why? Because Olazábal was there to play his part as the sport’s ambassador. Now the two play practice rounds at Augusta together.
Rahm cares about golf. He arose in the game as a generational talent, so good that he traveled across the world to Arizona State, so good that some considered him a top-25 player in the world while he was still an amateur. He spent his early years trying to tame a volcanic disposition. That fury, it got the best of him too often. Once he wrestled a lid on it, he vaulted to the top of the world rankings and hasn’t looked back. His golf swing, a flick of the wrist, is entirely his own.
He cares about history. Before Rahm’s two children awake, he often sits alone in the predawn hours watching reruns of classic tournaments on YouTube. As he explains it: “You can always learn something watching those things. I wouldn’t be able to explain it. I just … it’s something that interests me.” Rahm will sometimes corner both friends and former players and recount shot-for-shot some historical rounds in their careers. He’s golf’s “El Hombre de la Lluvia.” The Rain Man.
And he cares about winning.
(Photo: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
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