‘It was a Seve par’: Jon Rahm makes unlikely save to cement Masters victory

As Jon Rahm peered down the narrow shoot of pine trees toward Augusta National’s 18th fairway, his Masters victory was all but assured. He was four shots clear of Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson, and his last remaining obstacle was getting off the tee box without catastrophe.

That’s not quite was happened.

Rahm made contact and immediately looked left. The spotter on the tee box pointed his yellow flagstick toward the trees. Rahm dropped his driver and pointed at the trees, too. The broadcast crew had no idea where the ball landed, and, evidently, neither did Rahm. He grabbed another ball out of his bag and teed up a provisional, striping his second tee shot down the fairway.

Fortunately for the Spaniard, his first ball was not lost — but it hadn’t made it far off the tee box, either. After clattering around in the trees, his ball bounced out into the rough short of the fairway.

Pros are just like us sometimes. But what came next is what separates the pros from the joes.

With the disaster averted, Rahm used a long iron to curve the ball around the trees and up near the green. A simple pitch and two-putt were all the separated him from the green jacket. But, like his idol Seve Ballestros, Rahm had some tricks up his sleeve.

Rahm lofted his pitch just over the greenside bunker and to within five feet of the hole. His champion’s walk could finally commence.

When his par putt fell into the bottom of the cup, Rahm had finally claimed the green jacket — and he cemented the victory with a par evoking the memory of his golf hero.

“It was a Seve par,” Rahm said. “In a not purposeful way, it was a testament to him. I know he was pulling for me today. It was a great Sunday.”

On the 40th anniversary of Ballesteros’ first Masters title — and on what would have been his 66th birthday — Rahm became Spain’s latest major champion. And he did so with an unlikely punctuation mark.

Just like Seve would have.

Zephyr Melton

Golf.com Editor

Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com where he spends his days blogging, producing and editing. Prior to joining the team at GOLF, he attended the University of Texas followed by stops with the Texas Golf Association, Team USA, the Green Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. He assists on all things instruction and covers amateur and women’s golf. He can be reached at zephyr_melton@golf.com.