As a result of Jon Rahm‘s victory at the Masters, he became the fourth Spaniard to win the tournament. This is a huge accomplishment for him, and one that will give him a lot of motivation for the next chapter of his career.
The Spaniard is happy to be in the company of the greats from Spain, but he put a special emphasis on Seve Ballesteros, who won the Masters 40 years ago. Seve died in 2011. During the course of his career, he left a big mark on Rahm with his games.
“History of the game is a big part of why I play and one of the reasons why I play, and Seve being one of them,” said Rahm, as quoted by skysports.
Jon Rahm and his childhood
Rahm watched Ballesteros on TV with his father as he captained Europe to victory in the 1997 Ryder Cup at Valderrama.
“If it wasn’t for that Ryder Cup in ’97, my dad and I talk about it all the time, we don’t know where I would be or where as a family we would be. For me to get it done on the 40th anniversary of his win, his birthday, on Easter Sunday, it’s incredibly meaningful.
To finish it off the way I did, an unusual par, very much a Seve par, it was [unintentionally] a testament to him, and I know he was pulling for me today. This one is for Seve. I knew he would be up there helping and help he did.”
Jose Maria Olazabal and Jon Rahm hugged each other after Rahm’s great win.
Their conversation awakened many emotions in Rahm. “He said he hopes it’s the first of many more,” Rahm continued. “We both mentioned something about Seve and if had gone on 10 more seconds, I think we would have both ended up crying.
I like to see history kind of repeating itself because when Ollie won his second Masters in ’99, Sergio was the low am. My first start was the year Sergio won.”
