2023 Masters Roundtable: Assessing Rahm's Future Major Haul, Phil's Resurgence and LIV vs. the PGA Tour

Jon Rahm stormed past Brooks Koepka early in the final round and sailed home on Sunday for his first career green jacket. After a week of wild weather, and some impressive play from Koepka, on Sunday the skies cleared and Rahm proved himself as the rightful champion.

To break down the action and look ahead to what’s next, we convened our SI Golf roundtable. On to the questions.

Jon Rahm took the lead for the first time on the 6th hole and never relinquished it. What was the key to his victory?

Farrell Evans: Starting the final round two shots back of Brooks Koepka, Rahm was in the position of chasing a player who had had a share of the lead for the whole tournament. They were playing together and Rahm didn’t have to wonder how Brooks was playing. He could see that he wasn’t playing great and it made it easier for him to stay relaxed and patient.

John Schwarb: He talked in his press conference about how once he had honors on the tee at the 4th—tied with Koepka—that the goal was to keep giving him something to look at. Make Koepka feel the pressure. Textbook match play, which at that point of the tournament it was.

Bob Harig: Scrambling. Rahm led the field in that category, getting up and down 21 of 27 times. Nobody is going to hit all the greens. So you better managed to save a punch of pars, which Rahm did. It didn’t hurt that he played the par-5s (16 of them) in 10 under par. His winning score was 12 under.

Jeff Ritter: Rahm was unbreakable. I thought the nail in the coffin was at 14, where both Rahm and Koepka hit pretty good approaches from right of the fairway. Rahm’s caught the slope and trickled to the hole, while Koepka’s just missed it and settled across the green. Rahm birdied, Brooks three-putted and the game was over.

After playing poorly for the better part of two years, Phil Mickelson shot a Sunday 65 to finish tied for second. One-time blip, or should Mickelson be considered a contender at future majors?

Farrell Evans: Phil is still a great player. He has the swing speed, the experience and the touch to win any of the four majors into his last 50s.

Bob Harig: It was a great tournament for Phil, but Augusta National has always been the place where you figured he could find that missing magic. That is why missing the tournament last year had to hurt so much. It was his 30th Masters and he knows his way around the place. The fairways are wide, and there is room to recover. That doesn’t mean he will be able to duplicate that at, say, Oak Hill next month for the PGA. Hoylake and the British Open seem more realistic.

Jeff Ritter: Well, at the very least we should keep an eye on him for a few more Masters. Outside of that, I probably need to see how this new A-game travels before considering him at other majors.

John Schwarb: Betting shops today have Phil at 150-1 for the PGA and 130-1 for the British Open. That usually wouldn’t be the case with someone coming off a Masters T2, but the wiseguys know this was a one-off.

This was the first Masters since the launch of LIV Golf, and three LIV players—Mickelson, Koepka and Patrick Reed—cracked the top five. Twelve out of the 18 LIV players in the field made the cut. Do you feel any differently about LIV golfers’ ability to contend in majors now than you did at the start of the week?

John Schwarb: The top guys in LIV were among the top on the PGA Tour when they left and they haven’t forgotten how to play in the biggest events. If anything, they’ll be more motivated to peak for majors going forward–provided they can get into them.

Farrell Evans: As Brooks said after the Masters, the LIV players are the same people and when they play well they can contend and win majors.

Bob Harig: Just because several of these guys went to LIV Golf, it does not mean they suddenly became less than world-class golfers. That said, I expected Cam Smith and Dustin Johnson to contend. Brooks Koepka had played well the week before and clearly has some confidence in his game again.

Jeff Ritter: LIV guys made up about 20% of the field at the Masters. Some were serious contenders, some not so much (sorry, Sergio), but 20% feels like the odds I’d give to a LIV player winning a major this year. Would not be surprised at all if Brooks, DJ, Niemann, Cam Smith or one of a handful of others bagged one of the remaining three.

It seemed that the players themselves got along fine, leading with Koepka and Rahm playing together for the better part of two days. Is the feud between LIV and the PGA Tour overblown?

Farrell Evans: It’s very overblown. I think when they are all down in Jupiter together they aren’t talking about this stuff. I do think if you’re a top PGA Tour player you’re thankful to LIV for pushing your tour to put more cash and resources into players and events. So there are probably some high fives between some of the so-called feuding players.

Bob Harig: No, the feud is real. Lawsuits tend to do that. But in the big picture, these guys mostly put it aside. They recognized that a major championship and the Masters in particular is not a place for pettiness. They put the tournament above their own issues.

John Schwarb: For players, at this point, yes. The money wars are settled, guys on both sides are making out like bandits. The shock and anger from lawsuits has largely worn off. Both sides just want to beat each other between the ropes and thankfully majors still offer those chances.

Jeff Ritter: The guys played nice this week because it was the Masters, and some clearly remain friendly with each other. But I agree with Bob that lawsuits are real and so is the animosity between a lot of guys out there.

Rahm is now a two-time major winner and clearly one of the best two players in the world, along with Scottie Scheffler. What would set as the over/under for total career majors for Rahm, now that he’s won No. 2?

Farrell Evans: Rahm wins six majors.

Bob Harig: Four. That seems to be today’s holy grail. Getting past that has proven difficult for Rory McIlroy. It is the number that Brooks Koepka is at. Both players have numerous more opportunities but even getting there is an achievement. No players has gone beyond four majors since Phil Mickelson won at Muirfield in 2013. He added a sixth at the 2021 PGA. Before Phil, the last player to get to five majors was Tiger Woods when he captured the PGA in 2000.

Jeff Ritter: 3.5 is the over/under. It’s hard to win majors! But I’d take the over for Rahm.

John Schwarb: We media hacks are way guilty with the hyperbole on these, but 5.5 sounds like a good over/under. He’ll win multiple green jackets like two of the three other Spanish champions, and won’t Torrey Pines get another major while Rahm’s in his prime?