Jon Rahm was nearly in tears after winning an emotional triumph at the Masters Tournament on Sunday, what would have been the 66th birthday of his idol Seve Ballesteros.
Rahm overcame a four-stroke deficit at the start of a marathon 40-hole final day at Augusta National to defeat Americans Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson by four shots for his second major title, a victory that returns him to world No. 1.
“This one was for Seve,” Rahm said. “He was up there helping, and help he did.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
The 28-year-old Spaniard said he felt bolstered by the spirit of the late Ballesteros, who won his second Masters title 40 years ago.
“For me to get it done on the 40th anniversary of his win, his birthday, on Easter Sunday, it’s incredibly meaningful,” Rahm said.
Rahm achieved what he called a “true honor” in becoming the fourth Spaniard to grab the green jacket after Sergio Garcia, Jose Maria Olazabal and Ballesteros, who died of brain cancer in 2011 at age 54.
Photo: AFP
“Rest in peace Seve,” Rahm said to close his victory ceremony.
Rahm won the green jacket and took a record top prize of US$3.24 million from a record US$18 million purse.
Olazabal greeted Rahm with an emotional embrace just off the 18th green moments after the triumph was complete.
“He said he hopes it’s the first of many more,” Rahm said. “We both mentioned something about Seve, and if he had given us 10 more seconds, I think we would have both ended up crying.”
Rahm’s methodical precision shot-making down the bogey-free back nine delivered the triumph, a contrast to his emotional mood after the victory.
“I might have looked calm, but I was definitely nervous out there,” Rahm said. “I never panicked. I felt comfortable with my game. I never got frustrated. I never felt like anything was out of control, but there was tension out there.”
Rahm rescued a poor shot off the 18th tee for a closing par in much the same manner Ballesteros was known for doing.
“To finish it off the way I did — an unusual par, very much a Seve par — it was in a nonpurposeful way a testament to him,” Rahm said. “He was pulling for me.”
Rahm held firm with a final-round three-under par 69 to finish with a 12-under-par 276, with four-time major winner Koepka and six-time major winner Mickelson sharing second on 280, and fellow Americans Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed and Russell Henley on 281.
Rahm, who also won the 2021 US Open, became the first European golfer to own that title and a Masters.
“To be the first to do something like that, it’s a very humbling feeling,” Rahm said.
Rahm, who won three prior PGA Tour titles this year, overtook last year’s Masters champion Scottie Scheffler atop the rankings after the American shared 10th on 284.
Koepka, whose lead was trimmed from four shots to two just after the third-round restart on Sunday morning, fired a closing 75. He surrendered the lead to Rahm with a bogey at the sixth — part of a six-over 19-hole stretch — and never recovered.
“Some days you have it, some days you don’t, and today wasn’t one of those,” Koepka said. “Tried to give it a run there at the end, but just wasn’t good enough.”
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
AGING WELL: Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, 22, was sent packing after being dispatched by world No. 97, Laura Siegemund, the second-oldest player in the draw at 36 Novak Djokovic yesterday created a slice of Grand Slam history on his way into the Australian Open third round, but last year’s women’s finalist Zheng Qinwen was knocked out in the biggest shock so far. Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, in-form Coco Gauff, two-time Melbourne winner Naomi Osaka and a rampant Carlos Alcaraz were all victors on a rainy day four. Play was suspended on the outside courts for a couple of hours in the early evening because of the wet weather. That led to the rescheduling of a women’s doubles match between wild-cards Tsao Chia-yi of Taiwan and Thailand’s Peangtarn Plipuech and 11th
RSS