Why John Rahm might need to change his name to Justin Thomas

Jon Rahm reckons he needs to change his name to Justin Thomas to have any chance of getting tips from Tiger Woods about how to conquer Augusta National.

When Woods played his first Masters as an amateur in 1995, Rahm’s fellow Spaniard Seve Ballesteros passed on useful advice about how to play certain shots at the Georgia venue.

Heading into his sixth start in the event, US Open champion Rahm was asked if he’d ever heard Woods’s version of what it was like to have that conversation with two-time winner Ballesteros.

“I think there's only one man in this field that hears advice from Tiger because I've asked before and I get nothing,” said Rahm, laughing. “So you might need to ask Justin Thomas because I'm not him.

Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas share a joke during a practice round on Monday at Augusta National Golf Club. Picture: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images.

“I've asked him before. I remember asking him at East Lake (at the Tour Championship) the year he won,” he added of Woods landing that title in 2018.

“On the putting green in the practice round, I said: ‘Hey, man, any tips for Bermuda?’ He turned around and said, ‘It's all about feel’, and just kept going. I was like, ‘Cool, thank you’.”

In a jocular theme throughout the conversation, the world No 2 went on: ‘Yeah, I asked him at Albany once about chipping into the grain. You just got to be shallow. Okay. Meanwhile I turn around and J.T.'s there with him, and he's getting a whole dissertation on what to do.

“I've been able to ask other players. I've picked Phil's brain around here, Ollie a little bit,” he said, referring to two other multiple Masters champions, Phil Mickelson and Jose Maria Olazabal.

“But I feel like the course when Ollie played it and he played his best golf has changed a little bit.

“Even from when Seve played it, I mean, you might be able to do some of the things he talked about, but the golf ball has changed, the ranges have changed, the golf course, the speed of the greens, the firmness has changed. Some of the things you might be able to apply. Some others, not really.”

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