AUGUSTA, Ga. – Jon Rahm spotted the field two strokes, making a four-putt double bogey at the first hole, but rebounded to shoot 7-under 65 at Augusta National Golf Club and share the opening-round lead at the 87th Masters with Viktor Hovland and Brooks Koepka.
“If you’re going to make a double or four-putt or anything, it might as well be the first hole, 71 holes to make it up,” Rahm said. “After that, it was more, I was focused on the fact that all the strokes were good. The reads were good. The roll was good. Obviously the speed was off on the first two putts, so once I kind of accepted that there was nothing really to look into, I just got to work and I had 17 holes to make up.”
As he walked to the second tee, Rahm remembered that former Masters champion Seve Ballesteros, a fellow Spaniard and an idol of Rahm’s, famously had four-putted once at the Masters and delivered a memorable quote.
“I remembered Seve’s quote,” Rahm said. “Just kept thinking to myself, ‘Well, I miss, I miss, I miss, I make.’ Move on to the next. I carried a little bit of that negative energy into the tee shot on 2, hit it about ten yards further than I usually do and moved on with my day.”
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Rahm moved on to the tune of seven birdies and an eagle at the par-5 eighth hole. He hit 17 greens in all and at the one he missed, No. 7, he chipped in for birdie. Rahm tied his lowest round at the Masters in 25 career trips around Augusta National.
After posting a bogey-free 65 on Thursday, Hovland was asked how he would’ve fared if he had opened his tournament with a four-putt double-bogey?
“Is that what Jon Rahm did? That’s pretty impressive – not the 4-putt but the remaining golf after that. I mean, I feel like now that I have worked on my game, and I feel very confident about my game, I’ve done a way better job of not letting the bad shots affect me as much because I think if you’re a little insecure about your game, you start off with a double-bogey, and, ‘Oh, here we go’, and it’s going to be hard to get all those shots back. But if you feel good about your game, you’ve just got to keep pushing, and that’s obviously what Jon Rahm did.”
Hovland, 25, made an eagle at the second hole and “before I knew it, somehow I was 6-under through 11, and yeah, just kind of coast in to 65. So that was awesome.”
A display of skill from leader Viktor Hovland. #themasters
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