AUGUSTA, Ga. — This wasn’t the Green Jacket defense Jon Rahm had in mind.
The 29-year-old Spaniard, who plays on the LIV Golf Tour, followed up his 2023 Masters win with a memorable nine-over-par finish this week.
“There’s a lot of reasons why I didn’t have the best week, and I think one of them was obviously on the greens,” Rahm said. “I just couldn’t match the pace of the greens and had a few too many three-putts.”
Rahm had an incredible eight three-putts in four rounds, totaling 130 putts in the tournament.
It’s impossible to win the Masters with these numbers.
When asked what this week means for him, the defending champion and host of the Champions Dinner on Tuesday night, Rahm looks sad.
“It’s hard to talk about it when you play this bad,” he said. “No matter what my score was, it was nice to walk up to the tee at some of the receptions and see the words of appreciation. But when you’re not having your best week, it’s nice to see other people It’s hard to have to stay here now to hold people accountable. [when I] You never really have a chance. ”
Rory McIlroy is now winless in 16 Masters matches.
This week was his 10th Masters and the final match of his career to become the sixth player in history to complete a Grand Slam.
And on Sunday, he returned home empty-handed again, never once entering the fray.
He shot a 73 on Sunday and finished the tournament at 4 over.
“I don’t know what to say,” McIlroy said after the game. “I felt like my game was OK and I controlled it pretty well, but obviously Friday was a really tough day and losing five strokes puts me in a pretty difficult position going into the weekend. If we get seven or eight points here heading into the weekend, it’s hard to regain that position.”
“We need to take a moment to reflect on what went well and what didn’t work this week and try to plan for the coming months,” he said.
What a week it has been for Neil Shipley, a 22-year-old from Pittsburgh who played golf at James Madison University and is now a graduate student at Ohio State University.
He was the only amateur to qualify and was certain to finish last.
And in Sunday’s final round, he was paired with Tiger Woods.
“Playing in the Masters with Tiger on Sunday, I think we’ve got to win one of these to come out on top this week,” Shipley said after shooting a 73 on Sunday and finishing 12 over this week. “It’s definitely been a dream week and I’m looking forward to getting out here.” [as a pro] Preferably soon. ”
Shipley earned a spot this week as last year’s U.S. Amateur runner-up. He went from being an unknown college golfer to a week like this.
“It’s definitely been quite a journey,” he said.
Shipley shot 80 in the third round on Saturday, but said it was “not a fun match at all.”
“I wasn’t too happy after the round,” he continued. “We rushed to the practice facility to work, and my caddy came up to me and said, ‘Hey, who do you think you’ll be paired with tomorrow?’
“I thought, ‘Oh my god, it’s Tiger.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, yeah.’ I was pretty excited and that’s when my emotions turned around. I wasn’t really nervous, but when I came here this morning and saw Tiger on the practice field, I was like, “Oh my god, this is actually happening.”
“I definitely think this week was one of the most relaxed rounds for me. I felt Tiger made me feel really welcome. I mean, he was cool and chatty. Coming to the Masters. Other than that, it’s kind of a cool, casual round with Tiger.”
Phil Mickelson, 53, a three-time Green Jacket winner, finished his 31st Masters with a 2-over 74 and is 8-over this week.
Mickelson has 101 cuts in major tournaments, which ranks him third in history behind Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.
“If we’re going to compete on the weekend, we’ve got to get there,” Mickelson said. “That’s part of the battle. There’s no reason we can’t come back and play at a really high level. We didn’t score this week, but we weren’t far off.”
Shane Lowry was paired with Mickelson and marveled at the skills he still had.
“I love playing golf with Phil,” Lowry said. “I enjoy being there as a spectator more than anything because he hit some shots. When I saw the draw last night, I was excited to play with him on Sunday at the Masters. I was there.
“He lived up to his name. He hit some incredible shots. He hit a shot through the trees on the 8th hole, and he was the only one to make it. I think so, and it was a lot of fun.”
