ONLY A MATTER OF TIME
The year that Jon Rahm was born – 1994 – Jose Maria Olazabal won The Masters, making a 35-footer for eagle on the par-5 15th in the final round. He then scrambled to save par from the gallery on the 18th to secure a two-stroke victory and the first of what would be two Green Jackets for the Spaniard, who would go on to win the tournament again in 1999. Rahm does not remember any of that, though. He was too young.
A more prominent moment, as it would ultimately relate to Rahm’s Masters experience, took place in 1997. That’s the year, of course, that Tiger Woods thrust his way into golf’s history books with a record-setting performance at Augusta National and the first of 15 Major triumphs. But it was what happened later that year at the Ryder Cup in Valderrama, where the Europeans captained by Seve Ballesteros held off a Sunday singles charge from the Americans to win the biennial contest by a point, that ultimately resonated and resulted in the golfing becoming of Jon Rahm.
“Seve being the captain
