Gotta say that the fourth & final round of The Masters at Augusta National has changed everything in the lead up towards the finish line. Yes, I mean the for the leader in particular when Brooks Koepka, who kept top spot for the majority until this point, didn’t have a great run today with a mix of putting mishaps after he finished joint 2nd alongside the now oldest best Masters finisher of Phil Mickelson (age 51).
That paves the way for Spaniard Jon Rahm the opportunity to capitalise on Koepka’s mistakes & go one better for the top spot. And he too has done more than enough to not only keep it consistent bar the bogey on the Par 4 9th through the end of his final shift (4 birdies & all other pars of 3 under 69), but also secure his 2nd major Championship since the 2021 US Open, as well as his first Masters victory at a total of -12. Congrats to Jon on what has been a stellar Easter Sunday as he now gets to don the green jacket.
While there’s plenty of late movers we can name a few that ended up on a high in the Top 10 leaderboard, we didn’t have much hope in making a late charge into the top-half spots despite some promising progress from the beginning at our Aussies & NZ corner. Kiwi Ryan Fox finished T26 on his first Masters appearance after a great first couple of days, but then began to slip away towards the end. Meanwhile, Cameron Smith topped the charts for Australia in T34 ahead of Adam Scott & Jason Day in T39.
And even though he had a difficult 2nd half run, shoutout to Amateur Sam Bennett who finished in T16, having been around Rahm & Koepka for the lead at one stage earlier on Day 2. Now he’s set to play more golf without a caddie ahead of tomorrow’s 36-hole/two-day Aggie Invitational for his school – Texas A & M.
What a wild few days it has been where we saw some stop-start play due to wet weather before there’s so much movement alongside an jaw-dropping change of leader on the run home, as we can’t wait for next year’s 88th Masters edition.
