Thursday morning, before the start of the Augusta Masters, a friend texted Jon Rahm: “It’s going to be a great week,” Arizona Cardinals NFL pro Zach Ertz told him, a personal friend of the 28-year-old Basque golfer who won his second Grand Slam on Sunday. On the first hole, Rahm made a double bogey (two strokes over par) with four putts. In the acceptance speech, already wearing the green jacket, the Spanish athlete joked: “Thank you, Zach, don’t come back.” It was the worst moment of a brilliant tournament.
Golf is a sport that requires an impressive level of concentration. During 18 holes you cannot let your guard down at any time. The tennis player McEnroe made fun of it when he once said jokingly: “Golf can’t be a sport if you don’t sweat at any time.” A different opinion from that of the great Lee Treviño, who defined it in another way: “It’s the funnest game you can play with clothes”. Rahm demonstrated extraordinary powers of concentration. Mental strength led him to win the tournament against eight Americans in the top ten and beat Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson, who have agreed to compete in the Arab Super League set up as a competition circuit in traditional golf. He beat them by four strokes. Rahm has always been a respectful defender of historic golf and the triumph at Augusta had this background of the struggle between the money power of the Saudi League and the values ​​of old golf. Although Rahm pocketed three million euros for conquering Augusta and since January he has accumulated 13 million euros in prize money after winning four tournaments.
Rahm had announced on the networks in 2013 that he would seek the Masters. Ten years later he has succeeded. He is constant and when something is put between his eyebrows… he goes all over them. Spanish golf lacks only one Grand Slam, the PGA, as it has conquered the Masters, the US Open and the British. Rahm, currently number one in the world, is very likely to include him as a target. It used to be held in August and now the calendar has put it in May.
It is a pending subject for Spanish sport, with the America’s Cup in sailing, which it has never won. The Rugby World Cup or the Chess World Cup are also missing, but they are sports in which Spain has not painted much.
If the Basque master continues with the level of concentration he showed in Augusta he can achieve what he wants. His golf is mentally strong, technically brilliant and excellent at strategy (he knew how to play the last few holes without being swept away by the pressure). Rahm is a formidable guy who had a movie college romance with his wife Kelley Cahill, has two kids, is very family oriented and very obsessive about golf – he watches and studies all the stats and loves to know the his story He has already won two Grand Slams so far (US Open and Masters) and will be able to play Augusta for life after his victory on Sunday. He dedicates his triumphs to Seve and experts say he could surpass the achievements of the legendary Cantabrian player.
