Weekly Recap: This One's for Jon

Amid all the tension and turbulence of the 87th Masters, from the first interaction of the year with LIV golfers to the horrendous weather wreaking havoc all week to the near-catastrophic felling of three towering trees to Tiger Woods somehow making the cut at the last possible moment yet sadly having to withdraw a day later, Jon Rahm was the picture of calm.

And if you remember the Rahm of a few years ago, that is quite a metamorphosis.

Rahm put on one of the most impressive displays of golf in recent memory over a 30-hole marathon Sunday at Augusta National Golf Club, dismantling a still-great Brooks Koepka by turning a four-shot deficit into a four-shot victory for his first Green Jacket and second major title.

The 28-year-old Spaniard opened the tournament with a double bogey and survived the terrible side of the draw (early/late) to work his way into Saturday's final grouping with Koepka and amateur standout Sam Bennett. Their play was halted for the day on the seventh hole and Koepka leading by four. When Sunday dawned, Rahm birdied No. 7 while Koepka bogeyed, cutting the deficit to two, and that's the way they entered the final round in a mano-a-mano twosome.

Rahm shot a nearly flawless 3-under 69 to Koepka's wobbly 75, taking down the former alpha dog of the PGA Tour and no doubt allowing PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan to sleep soundly Sunday night. Koepka is now with LIV, and a major victory by a LIV golfer would've ratcheted up the warfare between the rival leagues. As it is, Koepka's shared runner-up with 52-year-old Phil Mickelson, of all people, plus Patrick Reed tied for fourth, providing LIV with a stellar showing beyond anyone's wildest imagination on golf's grandest stage.

If not for Rahm, Greg Norman's band of brothers would have stolen the whole show.

It wasn't too long ago that Rahm was every bit as fiery as his Spanish heritage might suggest. When things went wrong on the course, he would lose his temper, act out, have exchanges with his caddie and get thrown completely off his game.

On Sunday, he barely showed any emotion behind his full-face beard, methodically and euphemistically staring down Koepka, who not long ago was the most terrifying presence in golf. 

"What is going on on the outside is not always a reflection of the inside," Rahm said, when told by a reporter how fellow Spanish Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal was so proud of him for staying cool all day.

"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. …

"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."

The plan worked to perfection, all week, despite all the impediments and opportunities for it to go awry. While Koepka finished his second round early on Friday in largely perfect conditions, Rahm was on the other side of the draw and got hit harder by the weather. By Saturday, things had gotten so bad at Augusta National that three enormous trees simply uprooted at once and came cascading down. Miraculously, no one was hurt.

Now, not only is Rahm once again the No. 1 golfer in the world -- supplanting Scottie Scheffler, the man who put the Green Jacket on his big burly shoulders in Butler Cabin -- but he astonishingly became the first European ever to with both a Masters and a U.S. Open.

Again, Rahm learned of that from a reporter in his post-championship media session.

"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."

Rahm has often talked of the history of the game, especially the Spanish history. He is the fourth Masters winner from his country, joining Olazabal, Sergio Garcia and the late Seve Ballesteros, a two-time winner. This was the 40th anniversary of Ballesteros' second Masters title and Sunday, April 9, would have been his 66th birthday. Ballesteros died in 2011.

Rahm said that on Sunday, "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."

MONDAY BACKSPIN

LIV Golf
This was the best week Greg Norman ever had at the Masters. It sounds like a joke, and it probably is, but it's also true. Twelve of the 18 LIV Golf golfers made the cut, with three of them ending up in the top-four (there was a three-way tie for fourth). For now, that shuts down talk about the LIV guys no longer being good golfers (though it doesn't necessarily end the talk f how hard they play in LIV events). And maybe the best of them all, Cameron Smith, didn't even play all that well this week. There will be fewer LIV golfers in the ensuing majors this year, making it harder for the upstart league to make a similar impact. But for now, Norman at least has something to show the world -- and perhaps potential sponsors.

Brooks Koepka
Koepka showed that he is still capable of being the Koepka who won four major titles from 2017-19 -- almost. Because this Koepka lost the 54-hole lead. (Cue the LIV Golf/54-hole jokes now.)  It really was something to see Rahm out-alpha the former alpha dog. When Koepka left the PGA Tour last year, he had been bothered by knee injuries for a couple of years. Now, he says he is healthy. He is the only golfer to win two LIV Golf tournaments so far. Presumably, he could be a factor in the three remaining majors this year, beginning next month at the PGA Championship. Koepka moved back inside the top 50 in the world at No. 39.

Phil Mickelson
At almost 53 years old, Mickelson hasn't ceased surprising us. Until this past week, his recent surprises had come off the course with his loose lips. But for four days, he showed that he could still be relevant on the course, at least at Augusta National. Mickelson closed with a surreal 7-under 65 and thus became the oldest golfer to ever finish in the top-5 at a Masters (three-time champion Jimmy Demaret was 51 when he tied for fifth in 1962). To put things in perspective, Mickelson hadn't shot that low at Augusta in 27 years -- more than half his life ago. He soared from No. 425 in the world to 72nd. But that's irrelevant in relation to qualifying for other majors, which he had already done so thanks to another turn-back-the-clock moment -- winning the 2021 PGA Championship.

Jordan Spieth
Spieth followed a third-round 76 with a final-round 66 to tie for fourth, one shot out of second place. That's his sixth top-five at the Masters. With a record like that, it almost seems inevitable that another Green Jacket will be coming his way at some point. Spieth has been playing quite well since the Florida Swing, and now he heads to Harbour Town, where he will defend his title this week at the RBC Heritage.

Russell Henley
Henley tied for fourth, his best showing by far in 33 career majors. His best previous was T11 at the 2017 Masters, where he's made the cut in six of seven tries. Henley went into a funk after winning at Mayakoba in the fall. But of late he's emerged from it, with top-20s at THE PLAYERS and the Match Play before this top-five. Henley's ball-striking has not been as elite as in past years, but he showed at Augusta what he's still capable of. He is now ranked a career-best 29th in the world.

Patrick Reed
It's not much of a surprise that Reed would deliver with a tie for fourth at the Masters, where he won in 2018. This is annually his best chance to make a big dent in a major. Oak Hill, site of next month's PGA Championship, will provide a far sterner test for the short-hitting LIV Golf golfer. He'll likely qualify because he's back inside the top 50 in the world at No. 45.

Viktor Hovland
Hovland was in position to challenge Rahm and Koepka if they both faltered, but not if he shot 74, which he did in a disappointing Sunday that left him tied for seventh. As bad a taste that left in Hovland's mouth, the result was super encouraging, considering how well one must scramble at Augusta National. This was Hovland's second top-10 in a row at the major, after last year's T4 at the Open Championship, and also follows a T3 at THE PLAYERS.

Cameron Young
It wasn't another runner-up, which would've been Young's seventh in his brief PGA Tour tenure. But it was another excellent showing for Young, who was in his second tournament alongside veteran caddie Paul Tesori. They debuted together at the Match Play, where Young was runner-up to Sam Burns. Now ranked a career-high 13th in the world, Young heads to the RBC Heritage, where he tied for third a year ago.

Sahith Theegala
This was Theegala's fourth career major and the tie for ninth was by far his best result. He's now ranked a personal-best 28th in the OWGR.

Scottie Scheffler
Scheffler wound up tied for 10th and, while that may sound disappointing for the now-former No. 1 player in the world, get this: He's only the second defending champion in the past 17 years to finish in the top-10 the year after his win.

Sam Bennett
The U.S. Amateur champ who played on Saturday alongside Rahm and Koepka in the final grouping couldn't sustain things on Sunday and wound up tied for 16th, two shots shy of a top-12 that would've triggered an automatic invite back for next year. It's possible Bennett turns pro after this season at Texas A&M comes to a close later this spring, but then he'd lose his entries into both Opens. We shall see.

Cameron Smith
Smith could not come close to repeating his past Masters, which included a runner-up and a tie for third. He tied for 34th and remained No. 5 in the world rankings.

Jason Day
Day shot a final-round 80 to plunge to 39th place and later Sunday evening he withdrew from the upcoming RBC Heritage with no reason given. With Day's injury history, you never know what's up.

Max Homa
Homa tied for 43rd, yet another disappointing major. He has just one top-25 in 14 career starts, with eight missed cuts. Homa is starting to look like the player or team that excels in the regular season but does nothing in the playoffs.

Fred Couples
At age 63 and 187 days, Couples became the oldest golfer to ever make a Masters cut. He was 107 days older than Bernhard Langer was in 2020. The 1992 Masters champion wound up tied for 50th.

Tiger Woods
Woods made the cut on the number after struggling to a 74-73 start. But then, as the weather got worse on Saturday, he withdrew, citing his recurring plantar fasciitis. Playing in the pelting rain, Woods moved increasingly gingerly, and he simply wasn't going to be able to complete the tournament, especially having to play more than 18 holes in one day. We have no indication when we'll see Woods next, but he looked very bad out there. It would not be a surprise to see him skip not only the PGA Championship but also the U.S. Open and hope to play in The Open at Royal Liverpool in July.

Will Zalatoris
Zalatoris withdrew before the start of the tournament and on Monday morning announced that he had undergone season-ending back surgery on Saturday, specifically a microdisectotomy. He said he'll make a full recovery and be back in the fall. But as we have seen with other golfers, once there's a back injury, you never know if there's ever a full recovery. Zalatoris is 26 years old.

MISSED CUTS

Among the notables were Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Bryson DeChambeau, Corey Conners, Larry Mize and Sandy Lyle. The expectations for McIlroy were sky-high and he flamed out with a 77 on Friday. Just a horrendous week for him, and we'll see how/if he recovers in time for this week's RBC Heritage. … Thomas was crestfallen after bogeying the final two holes to miss the Masters weekend for the first time. He has now fallen to No. 12 in the world, his lowest standing in almost six years, since the week before winning the 2017 PGA. … DeChambeau had been terrible in LIV and not much better in past Masters, so this was no surprise. … But it was a surprise for Conners, who had three Masters top-10s in a row. Maybe he was unable to rebound just days after winning the Valero Texas Open. … Mize, the 1987 champion, and Lyle, the 1988 winner, were playing in their final Masters.