Who won the Masters? Spanish stars align at Augusta National as Jon Rahm takes title

Talk about stars aligning. It was the day Seve Ballesteros would have turned 66 and also the 40th anniversary of his second win in the event. Oh, and on the last April 9 finish, it had been won by Sergio Garcia.

Jon Rahm of Spain celebrates on the 18th green after winning the 2023 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. Picture: Christian Petersen/Getty Images.

Spanish success seemed inevitable and Jon Rahm didn’t disappoint. He’d started the 87th Masters by four-putting for a double-bogey 6 on Thursday. Only Sam Snead in 1952 had managed to recover from that exact early blow, but he now has Rahm for company.

When the third round resumed on Sunday morning after a deluge had flooded the Augusta National greens on Saturday afternoon, the 28-year-old trailed Brooks Koepka by four shots in the season’s opening major.

He’d cut that deficit to just two by the time the pair headed out in the final circuit, which turned into a pretty crazy affair, but, once he’d hit the front, Rahm wasn’t going to be stopped.

Jon Rahm of Spain reacts to his putt on the sixth green during the final round of the 2023 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. Picture: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images.

As Koepka, who was bidding to become the first player to win a major flying the LIV Golf flag faltered, the man from the Basque Country looked as though he’d become ten-foot tall.

Every aspect of his game but his short game in particular was tickety-boo and, on the one occasion he needed a stroke of luck, the golfing Gods shone on him as a hooked tee shot at the last hit the trees and bounced out onto the fairway.

Back-to-back birdies at the 14th and 15th were decisive as he signed off with a rock-solid 69 for a 12-under-par total, winning by four shots Koepka (75) and the fast-finishing Phil Mickelson (65) as he added a Green Jacket to his breakthrough win in the majors in the 2021 US Open at Torrey Pines.

Rahm is the fourth Spaniard to win this event, joining Ballesteros (1980 and 1983), Jose Maria Olazabal (1994 and 1999) and Garcia (2019). That total is the most of any country outside the United States.

Jon Rahm celebrates with his wife and their two young sons and also his dad, Edorta, on the 18th green. Picture: Patrick Smith/Getty Images.

Olazabal was at the back of the 18th green to greet Rahm, as was his dad Edorta and his wife Kelley, who had their two young sons, Kepa and Eneko, with her as it turned into a real family affair, leaving Rahm in tears as he made his way to the scoring building.

“It was incredibly meaningful,” said Rahm of his win coming on this particular day. “The history of the game is a big part of why I play the game and Seve is one of them.”

Referring to the fact he’d made what he described as an “unusual” par at the last after hitting a provisional ball that hadn’t actually been required, he added: “I know he was pulling for me today.”

Koepka who’d been up at the top of the leaderboard for most of the event, was disappointed to miss out on a fifth major. “I just played average and didn’t get any breaks either,” he said in summing up his last round. “But I fully expect to be up there in the other three (majors in 2023).”

It had looked as though the final day was going to be a two-horse race as Koepka restarted on Sunday on 13-under, with Rahm his closest challenger, but Viktor Hovland had also edged into the frame after 54 holes.

As was the case in last year’s 150th Open at St Andrews, the Norwegian couldn’t keep it going in the final round, finding himself on the back foot after three-putting the short sixth from just eight feet.

But, out of nowhere, a posse of players started to make big moves up the leaderboard, led by Mickelson, who, with a closing 65 that contained eight birdies, posted the clubhouse target at eight-under.

Scottie Scheffler, the defending champion and world No 1, also made a menacing move as he rolled in a 40-footer for a birdie at the 11th only to take the wind out of his own sails by sending his tee shot at the 12th deep into the trees in a swirling wind in Amen Corner.

Scheffler ended up joint-tenth as two other former champions, Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed, both produced strong last-round efforts to share fifth spot with Russell Henley on seven-under.