On January 1st, 2018, Jon Rahm made his unique and non-transferable new year’s resolution list, just as everyone else did. First on the list, in bright red and capital letters, he wrote: make it to the back nine in a major with the possibility of winning.
Four months later, his dream came true. Jon fought up until the 15th hole for the win this Sunday in the Masters, his second Masters, and he didn’t finish too far off, at least from making it to the 18th hole with the possibility of taking home the victory.
He was so close, it was just a question of one meter. That’s the distance the ball stopped at from reaching the green on the 15th hole and creating a good option for eagle. Instead, it slipped down the slope into the lake. It was a devastating bogey. Jon went from being able to tie with the leader to trailing behind by three shots with three holes to go. The epic mission turned into mission impossible.
Rahm finished in sole fourth place, four shots away from Reed, three from Rickie Fowler and two from Jordan Spieth. They are the only ones who finished the tournament in the double digits. But nobody performed as well as Jon during the last three days of the tournament. Monumental partial score of fourteen under par.
Jon has proved this week, although we’ve already seen more than enough to know, that he has it in him to win the Masters at Augusta. He’s got more than an adequate long game, irons, short game and putt to win on a course that seems as though it were designed specifically for him. He’s also discovered some more profound and personal things. “It’s the first time that I’ve reached the last holes with the possibility to win a major and I didn’t panic, I wasn’t afraid, and that’s something I really wanted to know about myself. One thing is to win a PGA Tour tournament and another completely different thing is to win a major. But I felt very comfortable. I loved the situation, I loved to be a part of the fight. I hope the next time the situation occurs that I’ll be the one leading the tournament, and that way I can learn from a different experience. Luckily, I think I’ve shown that I learn quickly and I continue to learn. I learned from my mistakes last year, and I’ll learn from this year’s as well. I hope to have a good performance here next year, and another opportunity to win a major this year.” Next stop will be the US Open.