Jon Rahm rallies to win the Masters as Spanish stars align

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Jon Rahm turned the longest day into his sweetest victory, starting Sunday with a four-shot deficit in the morning chill and finishing in fading sunlight as the fourth Spaniard to become a Masters champion.

Rahm closed with a 3 under 69 to avoid Brooks Koepka, who is known for making mistakes. He defeated Koepka and 52-year-old Phil Mickelson by four rounds, who turned in a tournament-best 65. In the background of the Masters, he is the oldest runner-up.

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Before Rahm became a professional golfer in 2016, Mickelson predicted that he would be one of the sport’s’s greatest stars. In addition to his U.S. Open victory at Torrey Pines in 2021, Rahm now sports a clean coat.

Over the last 12 holes of the rain, Rahm made two shots against Koepka, delaying the second round and putting two more shots in the opening round. The three-time Masters champion’s’s incredible end square, which was the best ever at Augusta National, was never going to be enough for Mickelson after he seized Koepka after the latter collapsed.

On a day when the Spanish stars were in alignment, there was nothing more exciting than climbing up to the 18th natural to assume the green jacket. Sunday is the 40th anniversary of Ballesteros winning his second Masters name, and it is also the birthday of his hero, the slow Seve Balsteros.

Two-time Masters champion José Mara Olazábal was waiting for Rahm as he made his way to the grading place after giving his wife and two children the warmest embrace possible.

As Scottie Scheffler did when he won the Masters a year ago, Rahm won for the third day this year and reclaimed the No. 1 place in the world from Scheffler.

The start of this Masters was hot and muggy, a cold front with storm that knocked three trees over on Friday, surfaces that had been saturated by rain on Saturday, and Rahm and Koepka’s’s 30 hole start on Sunday.

Koepka contributed to laying the groundwork by making a series of miscues, losing the head for the first time since Thursday afternoon when he made his second bogey by chipping 20 feet past the opening from behind the line – 3 fifth. More may follow.

Worse yet, Koepka went 22 holes in a row on Sunday without missing, from the par-5 seventh hole in the morning of the next round to the final round’s’s sync– 5 13th opening. He was three shots for by that point, and Rahm nearly closed the gap with his next opportunity.

From the right of the 14th putt, he struck a lower cut that encircled the tree. The birdie fed down to 3 feet after catching the slope even right on the green. It was a matter of finishing when Koepka three-putted for birdie.

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Rahm missed the putt after hooking his shirt taken into the branches at the last hole. Whatever. He tapped in for the conquest by playing up the putt and hitting hammer to a height of three feet.

Great champions and a hint of Saudi-funded LIV Golf were all over the ranking. Both Koepka and Mikkelson are members of the opposing loop. Patrick Reed, a former Masters champion who switched to LIV, came in at number 68 and tied for fourth place with Jordan Spieth( 66 ) and Russell Henley.