Alex Trelinski
JON RAHM became the fourth Spaniard to win the US Masters in Augusta on Sunday to become the owner of the coveted green jacket, after his four-stroke victory over veteran American Phil Mickelson.
The 28-year-old from the Basque Country, who lives in Arizona with his wife and two children, followed in the footsteps of his idol Severiano Ballesteros- on the day that he would celebrated his 66th birthday.
It also just happened to be the 40th anniversary of the charismatic Ballesteros lifting the first of his two Masters titles.
Rahm joins a select list of Spanish winners that also includes Jose Maria Olazabal(twice) and Sergio Garcia.
“We all dream of things like this as players, and you try to visualize what it’s going to be like and what it’s going to feel like,” Rahm said.
“Never thought I was going to cry by winning a golf tournament, but I got very close on that 18th hole.
“And a lot of it because of what it means to me, and to Spanish golf,” he said.
“It’s Spain’s 10th major, fourth player to win the Masters. It’s pretty incredible.”
Rahm embraced his wife and two children, and as he walked toward the scoring room, there was two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal in his green jacket for the strongest hug of all and a few words that included Ballesteros.
“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.”
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