The 2024 defending Masters champion Jon Rahm has probably not enjoyed the major as much as he had anticipated, and the green jacket will most likely be going somewhere else.
On Friday night at the Masters, Jon Rahm barely missed the cut, which surprised a lot of people as the defending champion.
His demands for the leaf blowers to clear the green on the par-4 11th hole were the culmination of his frustrations, which have been well below par thus far. Rahm found himself facing a monster putt up towards the hole after finding the front of the long green.
At Augusta on Friday, the ferocious winds caused chaos for the second time in a row. The green was inundated with sand from the bunker and a variety of debris from nearby trees and shrubs.
At Augusta National, this was a frequent occurrence on the eleventh hole and many others as well. Rahm wanted the green cleared even though the wind would likely repeat the same action in a few minutes.
Speaking with an official, the 29-year-old insisted that the two leaf blowers positioned on the green side move out of the way of the dance floor.
It took Rahm about five minutes to finally settle down and make his birdie putt, which was terribly short. The long par putt he left himself proved to be unholy, and he eventually bogeyed the hole.
After the round, Rahm acknowledged that Friday was among his hardest golf days ever. He stated: “Yeah, you just put the ball down, and it’s very close to moving,” in reference to the event at Hole 11. Furthermore, how much time did it take us to play?
“They had to blow the greens in between groups, which took more than six hours to play, and when you get to a group, people keep moving back in.” Again, it’s just on the edge. It was incredibly close. This golf course is among the hardest I’ve seen in a very long time.”
Rahm continued, expressing surprise that the round was not canceled given the playing conditions. “A few times I asked myself why we were out there,” he remarked, “especially when I reached number 18 and realized the entire front of the green was just covered in sand.” It is rolling somewhat differently. I know they want us to be done.
“I think they came very close to calling it a few times, particularly when we were on 11 green and those enormous gusts were occurring about every two minutes or so. It was really challenging. We managed to get it in. Hopefully tomorrow I can just catch up a little bit.”
In the run-up to the first major of the year, Rahm’s Masters has fallen short of his own expectations. The Spaniard was asked if it would hurt his chances to play less with LIV Golf. However, the Spaniard disproved that theory.
“Physically, I feel better than last year, but it’s a change in the schedule this early in the year—a little bit more time at home and a little bit more time for training. It will take some getting used to. I feel fantastic mentally. Once more, things are going really well with my game.”
Unfortunately, Rahm’s game took a turn for the worse, leaving him looking a little flushed. He was at 6-over and out of the running to defend his green jacket after making a bogey on the seventh during Saturday’s round.
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