Jon Rahm channels wrong kind of Seve, still fires 65 to open 2023 Masters

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Jon Rahm channeled his inner Seve on Thursday at Augusta National. It just wasn’t the type of imitation that Rahm would’ve liked to begin his opening round of the 87th Masters.

Though the exact verbiage is up for debate, Ballesteros was once quoted after a four-putt on No. 16 at the 1990 Masters with saying, “Well, I miss, I miss, I miss, I make.”

Rahm remembered the legendary saying as he walked to the second tee after a four-putt of his own at the par-4 first hole, where Rahm ran his 40-foot birdie putt 8 feet by before missing that putt and a 5-footer for bogey.

Full-field scores from the 87th Masters Tournament

“I carried a little bit of that negative energy into the tee shot on 2,” Rahm said, “hit it about 10 yards farther than I usually do and moved on with my day.”

He responded well, birdieing each of the next two holes, totaling seven birdies and an eagle at the eighth hole. He never missed a fairway either, and his 7-under 65 matched his best 18-hole score at the Masters (third round, 2018) and tied him for the first-round lead with Viktor Hovland and Brooks Koepka.

Rahm said it’s “a hell of a lot easier” to stomach a double bogey on his first hole of a major championship. Plus, he said he didn’t make a bad stroke on any of those four misses.

“The fact every single putt felt good makes it easier,” Rahm said. “It’s not like I had the right line and the right read and made a poor stroke. All of them felt good.”

Sam Snead also double bogeyed the first hole prior to winning the 1952 Masters.

However, should Rahm go on to win a green jacket on Sunday, he would be just the second person to do what Snead did that year.