Jon Rahm did not change the rictus during the entire final lap, knowing what he had in hand. It is not so easy to create such a clear victory option in the Augusta Masters and he avoided any element that could distract him.
Until he played the wedge and left it next to the final flagJon tried not to let his euphoria lead him into a mistake. “I didn’t want to get ahead, but when I hit the third shot I knew I had left it close and I already let the emotions flow. It happened to me already after 17 when I was four shots ahead, but then I hit the tree (laughs) and it put me back in place. I didn’t want to believe it until it was fixed.”
Not being an avid reader, Jon reads things that can help in his career: philosophy, stoicism, a biography like that of Kobe Bryant or Rafa Nadal while writing secret diaries like Marco Antonio did.
The Masters champion recalled that passage from Wimbledon 2008 of Nadal with Federer that he had read in John Carlin’s book. “Rafa says that he hits a great shot and put him up a point in the tie break and it was the first time he thought about victory. And then he lost the next two or three points. I think it was the fourth set and they had to go to a fifth. And he explains how allowing himself to think about victory was what made him lose that race. There are thoughts related to winning that will come to mind, but you must not get lost in them and stay in what is the moment”.
