Rahm overcame a four-stroke deficit originally of a marathon 40-hole last day at Augusta National to defeat the Americans Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson via 4 pictures for his 2nd primary identify, a victory that returns him to international primary.
“This one was for Seven,” Rahm mentioned. “He was up there helping, and helping he did.”
The 28-year-old Spaniard mentioned he felt strengthened via the spirit of the overdue Ballesteros, who gained his 2nd Masters identify 40 years in the past.
“For me to get it done on the 40th anniversary of his win, his birthday, on Easter Sunday, it’s incredibly meaningful,” Rahm mentioned.
Rahm accomplished what he referred to as a “true honor” in changing into the fourth Spaniard to grasp the fairway jacket after Sergio Garcia, Jose Maria Olazabal and Ballesteros, who died of mind most cancers in 2011 at age 54.
“Rest in peace Seve,” Rahm mentioned to near his victory rite.
Rahm gained the fairway jacket and took a document peak prize of $3.24 million from a document $18 million handbag.
Olazabal greeted Rahm with an emotional include simply off the 18th inexperienced moments after the triumph was once whole.
“He said he hopes it’s the first of many more,” Rahm mentioned. “We both mentioned something about Save, and if he had given us 10 more seconds, I think we would have both ended up crying.”
Rahm’s methodical precision shotmaking down the bogey-free again 9 delivered the triumph, a distinction to his emotional temper after the victory.
“I might have looked calm, but I was definitely nervous out there,” Rahm mentioned. “I never panicked. I felt comfortable with my game. I never got frustrated. I never felt like anything was out of control. But there was tension out there.”
Rahm rescued a deficient shot off the 18th tee for a final par in a lot the similar approach Ballesteros was once identified for doing.
“To finish it off the way I did — an unusual par, very much a save par — it was in a non-purposeful way a testament to him,” Rahm mentioned. “He was pulling for me.”
Rahm held company with a final-round three-under par 69 to complete on 12-under par 276 with four-time primary winner Koepka and six-time primary winner Mickelson sharing 2nd on 280 and fellow Americans Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed and Russell Henley on 281.
Rahm, who additionally gained the 2021 US Open, was the primary European golfer to possess that identify and a Masters.
“To be the first to do something like that, it’s a very humbling feeling,” Rahm mentioned.
Rahm, who gained 3 prior PGA Tour titles this 12 months, overtook the 2022 Masters champion Scottie Scheffler atop the scores after the American shared tenth on 284.
Koepka, whose lead was once trimmed from 4 pictures to 2 simply after the third-round restart Sunday morning, fired a final 75. He surrendered the result in Rahm with a bogey on the 6th — a part of a 6-over 19-hole stretch. — and not recovered.
“Some days you have it, some days you don’t, and today wasn’t one of those,” Koepka mentioned. “Tried to give it a run there at the end, but just wasn’t good enough.”
Rahm’s five-foot birdie on the par-5 thirteenth, four-foot birdie at 14 and 4 final pars foiled 52-year-old Mickelson’s bid to wreck his personal mark because the oldest primary champion.
Three-time Masters champion Mickelson birdied 5 of the final seven holes to shoot 65, the bottom Masters around ever for a participant over 50.
“Unfortunately it wasn’t enough, but it was really a lot of fun for me to play at this level again,” mentioned Mickelson. “It’s encouraging for me going forward the rest of the year.”
He had a possibility to compare the best last-round comeback in primary historical past — Paul Lawrie’s 1999 British Open rally from 10 adrift.
But america left-hander settled for being the oldest participant to complete within the top-five at a Masters.