MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 9, 2023

Jon Rahm

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It's my privilege to welcome our 2023 Masters Champion, Jon Rahm.

Jon, congratulations on your victory.

40 years after Seve's second victory and on his birthday you become the fourth Spaniard to win the green jacket. Can you walk us through your emotions the moment you sealed the victory.

JON RAHM: Hard to put it into words. Obviously we all dream of things like this as players, and you try to visualize what it's going to be like and what it's going to feel like. And when I hit that third shot on the green, and I could tell it was close by the crowd's reaction, just the wave of emotion of so many things just overtook me. Never thought I was going to cry by winning a golf tournament, but I got very close on that 18th hole.

And a lot of it because of what it means to me, and to Spanish golf, right. It's Spain's 10th major, fourth player to win the Masters, fourth, and my second win, right, my second major win, right, it's pretty incredible.

And to play the way I did on Sunday, only one bogey in difficult conditions and coming in with a margin of -- hard to explain. A lot of pride, and I am really proud of myself and what I did.

Still really hasn't sinked in yet. I'm looking at the scores, and I still think I have a couple more holes left to win. Can't really say anything else. This one was for Seve. He was up there helping, and help he did.

Q. Everybody in this room knows, but on Tuesday you shared your appetite for the history of this game and talked about how you liked to peel back layers on what other players have done. In addition to the Spanish accomplishment, you're the first European player, ever, to win a Masters and a U.S. Open. So can you give us a sense --

JON RAHM: Huh?

Q. Masters and U.S. Open, no other European player has done that. So can you share, finding that out, some perspective on that accomplishment?

JON RAHM: I find it hard to believe, the first one. You know, there's -- if there's anything better than accomplishing something like this, is making history.

So the fact that you tell me that, to be the first-ever -- first European ever to do that, hard to explain. Out of all the accomplishments and the many great players that have come before me, to be the first to do something like that, it's a very humbling feeling.

Thank you, by the way, because I don't know how I would have found out.

I still can't believe I'm the first. I don't know what to tell you. It is -- it is a pretty good duo of majors. The U.S. Open is about as hard a test as you're ever going to find, and, you know, I was trying to think, I was never going to win a major again unless it was at Torrey Pines. To come somewhere that -- it's not like it was that long ago, but to come somewhere where I've been comfortable. I kept seeing the stats, the lowest score to par out of two starts and how great I've done here in the past but never gave myself a chance to win. All I asked for was a chance, and I got it.

To get that done is -- I can't help to feel anything but thankful.

Q. Just a few minutes ago, José Maria talked about how proud he was of how calm, cool and collected you seemed out there today. How calm, cool and collected were you?

JON RAHM: What is going on on the outside is not always a reflection of the inside.

I was calm. I never got frustrated. I never really got -- felt like anything was out of control. But obviously you're nervous, right. There's tension out there. That bogey on 9 timing-wise was bad because Jordan and Phil came in making birdies, right. So what looked like a 2-, possibly more, shot lead, narrowed it down very, very quickly with the chance of them making a birdie on 18, right.

So made those 10, 11, 12 holes harder. Again, I might have looked calm, but I was definitely, definitely nervous out there. I'm glad that's the way it looked. That's what you strive for, right? You don't want to panic, and I never panicked. I felt comfortable with my game, and I had a plan to execute, and that's all I can do.

Q. The 4-putt at the first hole, you might have got the worst and probably the tougher side of the draw. You were getting rained on, and you were behind for a lot of the holes. Did you have a sense of calm throughout the week, or how did you keep your composure?

JON RAHM: Did you say I was perhaps on the bad side of the draw? Perhaps? (Laughter).

You know, the only time I was a little bit upset at myself was actually this morning on 16. Because I three-putted 13, three-putted 15, and then I hit a terrible shot on 16 and made a bogey, and I felt like at least one of those shots was avoidable.

That's the only time I ever felt like, you know, I was truly upset at something. But, you know, I reeled it back in and made two good pars on the last two holes to put myself in the final group, which is all I needed. All I asked for was a chance.

It was a tough day out there. It was windy, and all those wind gusts are not easy. You can hit good shots that are going to end up in bad spots, and it happened to everybody.

Luckily the people that shot a low round today were a little bit too far out, and that's -- I know you guys keep asking me. As to why I felt this way, I really don't know. I've always been confident when I've been close to the lead. I have full faith in all parts of my game. And maybe because it was that difficult out there, I was just focused on what I had to do. And that's really all you can control, is what you can do.

Q. A year ago you played the final round with Tiger Woods. Was there anything from that day that you were able to use today? And perhaps specifically you can talk about how you approached 12 today in the final round.

JON RAHM: I think because he -- even though he didn't try to show it, obviously he was in pain and he was tired, and the fourth round was a long one for him.

I didn't really want to just grill him with questions about tournaments, right, and how to be a better golfer, because he was there to do a job. We shared a couple fun stories. I asked him a couple questions about, you know, when he was a younger player and when he became a dad and more about, you know, life as a pro athlete and parenthood. I think we talked about that more than anything, and then he shared a couple stories from the past.

But the one thing I remember is talking to Tony Finau. I played nine holes with him on Wednesday, about 12, because you mentioned, and I asked him when him and Francesco hit those shots in the water, "Did you actually hit a good shot?"

He said, "Yeah, it was I good shot, it was just a yard too far right and spun in the water." Then he mentioned Tiger's shot went left of the bunker to that Sunday pin.

So when I got there today, dry land is mission No. 1, right. And it was very similar conditions to what we played this morning. So I learned from what I did this morning, try to basically make a hole-in-one to the third round pin and hit a perfect shot because I was about three feet from it, right. That's what I had to do, hit it right over the center of the bunker and hope it hits green. And then after that, hit a great lag putt, tapped it in and moved on.

Q. A lot of people want to describe you as a fighter. Where does that come from?

JON RAHM: I don't know. Maybe it's a little bit related to determination. You know, I'm out there -- when I'm out there, I have a job to do, and it's to hopefully be here answering to this question, right.

So I put -- I know we all do, but we put in a lot of effort to try to beat the best guys in the world. So maybe that level of intensity and that determination is what you see and that's why I'm characterized as a fighter.

I'm also never going to give up, right. Even if I shoot myself out of contention, whatever, and I can finishing strong to give myself a possibility to finish fourth; it's always going to be better than anything, right.

So I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't try my hardest on every shot, so maybe that's where it comes from.

Q. Can you remember the moment where you first thought that you would like to win this tournament, and how have you changed from that day until now?

JON RAHM: Oh, God, I can't remember exactly when. But I mean, I've wanted to win it ever since I thought about -- about golf and what being a champion would be, right. Obviously there's four great tournaments we all think of, and not to categorize them in any order, right, this one is one of them.

I think the main thing, something that gave me a lot of hope, and that kind of started when Sergio won in '17, is that pretty much every great-name Spanish player has won here. There's got to be something here about having a Spanish passport, I don't know, there's something about the grounds that transmits into all of us. Even that year, I played good. I played good every year.

I can't pinpoint exactly the first time, but it really became clear to me that year.

Q. How exciting is it to be halfway towards the Grand Slam and be in a race now with Jordan Spieth and Rory and perhaps even Phil?

JON RAHM: Let's not get ahead of ourselves. You know, there are three of them. I mean, it would be amazing. It would be great. Not many people have been able to do it, and to be able to finish it out and close out and do a Grand Slam would be absolutely amazing.

I don't know how else to say. I would like to say that I entered the race when I won the U.S. Open, but of course, you're so far away, you don't want to think about it, right. But as players, it's on your mind. It's on your mind. It's something else that would be amazing. But it's a long road ahead to be able to accomplish that. Something that two players like Phil and Arnie weren't able to do, it speaks a lot.

Q. You started the week with a double-bogey, and this morning you woke up with a four-shot deficit that you quickly made two; and then within a few holes today, you were tied for the lead with one birdie. How do you switch from chasing all week to being chased for the last 12 holes?

JON RAHM: It really doesn't change, not as much as you should, obviously. I still like to stay aggressive, as shows with my play on 16. The second I tried to play for pars is when I think a big number comes into play, right.

So with how good I was swinging, I like to stay aggressive, and if I have a three-shot lead, trying to make it four. If I have four, try to make it five. That's the goal. That's the intention, just so you can go on 18 and mess up and still have a pretty good look at winning the tournament. Kind of like I almost did today, like Scottie did last year, right. You want to have as much lead as you can.

The goal at that point is to never come back to the rest of the field, right, to have them chase you. And knowing that if I could make a few birdies and pars, especially on the back nine, it was going to be pretty difficult for someone to catch up, with the wind conditions today.

Q. When you're playing in the same group as the guy that you know you're competing with, is there anything you try to do to gain a competitive advantage? Obviously it's not match play, but and you Brooks were side-by-side for a lot of holes today.

JON RAHM: It's not match play, but early on, it kind of felt like it, right. Before people made all those birdies, I mean, we were 10, 11, after the birdie on 3, 10-, 11-under, and then the closest was 5-under. So it felt like that situation, where I wasn't expecting Brooks to play bad. I can't expect that, right. So I need to bring the fight to him.

So when I took the tee on 4, the goal is to keep giving him something to look at, meaning, if I hit a good shot, just for him to see that I have a birdie chance but keep putting the ball in the fairway and keep making good swings for him to feel more of the pressure rather than me, right. Me be the one pushing.

And I felt like I did that really, really well. And even at the end when things changed, he was the one that started pushing and made those birdies on 15 and 16. Even at that point the dynamic changed a little bit as well.

Q. When did you figure out or someone tell you that the final round of the Masters this year was going to be on Seve's birthday?

JON RAHM: I think it was Tuesday right here, not in the press room, but I think while I was doing media, it was Seve's birthday. I was told a lot of things about why this could be the year, and I just didn't want to buy into it too much.

Q. Did you sense today that the Patrons were more behind you than in past years?

JON RAHM: Not throughout the entire round because obviously early on there was a lot of options, and Brooks was in the lead and the people supporting Brooks made themselves known.

But I think it was around my birdie on 8 when I took a couple-stroke lead is when things turned a little bit.

Even with that bogey on 9, the support was pretty incredible all throughout, and I kept hearing, "Seve! Seve! Seve! Do it for Seve!" I heard that the entire back nine. That might have been the hardest thing to control today, is the emotion of knowing what it could be if I were to win; that might have been the hardest thing.

Q. We really should ask you about the fantastic shot into 14, but shall we ask you about the tee shot on 18 instead? Can you just describe what you were thinking as you reached for a provisional ball on the 72nd hole?

JON RAHM: Nothing, really. I had a four-shot lead, so I was confident with that.

But I think that was karma. I was just telling Adam how great I hit a low fade the entire week. Hit pretty much every -- the fairway all four days on 17, which I've never done. And I was bragging about it a little bit, and, of course, on 18, that happens, right, which was maybe two feet from missing that tree.

But it will be a good story in the future, I guess, right. I won the Masters and didn't even make it to the fairway on the 18th tee shot.

I'd much rather want to remember that second shot on 14 because if there was a key moment throughout the day, it was that shot, right. Not stymied behind the tree, but not in a great spot; to hit it to four feet was incredible.

Q. What was the yardage you had in on 18?

JON RAHM: On 18? I thought you were going to say 14. I don't even know. Adam started to say numbers. I was like, "Is it worth going for the green? No."

So I just grabbed a 4-iron and faded it around the tree to a pitch spot.

Q. I actually did want to ask you about the yardage on 14 and what club that was.

JON RAHM: I figured somebody was going to ask. It was 128 meters, adjusted.

Q. I'll figure it out.

JON RAHM: And I used an 8-iron. It started around left edge of the green, and all it had to do was fade about five yards and it would reach the slope.

Q. You talk about Amen Corner, but when you leave 14 with that great birdie and you're 4-up with four to play, does that become easy or difficult?

JON RAHM: Doesn't make it more easy or more difficult. I still wanted to play those last four holes under par. That was the goal, knowing if I did that, it was going to be pretty much not impossible but very difficult for me to lose it.

Q. A couple years ago, you made a decision to reveal a pretty vulnerable thing that you were born with a clubbed foot. What made you want to share that with people, and what inspired the explanation of that?

JON RAHM: It's not a vulnerable thing. You can't see it because I wear pants. If we were shorts in golf, you guys would have noticed way earlier.

I dropped hints as a professional in these pressers many times, and it was in the 2020 Open Championship when somebody finally decided to ask a follow-up question to that and ask me what I meant, and that's when I explained it.

I mean, I'm not going to go here and explain everything that goes on, right. So no, that was it. Somebody finally asked a follow-up question, and I decided to talk about it. Nothing -- nothing else. It wasn't like a moment where I felt ready. It's something I'm pretty open about. There's a reason why I have the swing I have and the mechanics I have. It's part of who I am.

THE MODERATOR: Before we conclude, go through your scorecard with the birdies and bogeys.

JON RAHM: 3 -- every round? (Laughter).

Birdie on 3, 2 was driver, I had 43 meters to the pin. I used a lob-wedge. Landed two paces short, released six.

How much detail do I need to get into?

THE MODERATOR: That's good.

JON RAHM: 8, driver, 3-wood into a hurricane. I had 51 meters to the pin and used a lob-wedge. Hit a low runner.

13, driver, pin-high to just left of the green. Decided to pitch it and gave myself a pretty good look at birdie from four feet.

Then 14, 128 meters, 8-iron around the tree. Pin-high.

THE MODERATOR: Jon, congratulations, and thank you for being with us, and what an incredible accomplishment.