Jon Rahm Starts the 2023 Masters With a Brutal Four-Putt

Jon Rahm, the third-best player in the world (No. 2 Sports Illustrated World Golf Ranking), didn’t look quite so sharp during his opening hole of the 2023 Masters. The Spaniard hit Augusta National’s first green in regulation from 158 yards out, but from there the hole was disastrous. 

Rahm blew his 48-foot par attempt 8 feet past the cup, leaving a slippery comeback putt. He barely caught the edge of the hole with his next stroke, leaving yet another testy short-range putt from 7 feet. 

The Spaniard missed once more, and then tapped in from 3 feet for a double-bogey 6. Rahm’s blunder was hard to watch, but it wasn’t worse than Ernie Els’s record-setting 9 on the first hole of the 2016 Masters. Els six-putted for a quintuple bogey. 

The former U.S. Open champion rallied with a birdie on the par-5 2nd hole, but an opening four-putt isn’t an easy fluke to bounce back from. If anyone can do it, however, it’s the 10-time PGA Tour winner. Rahm opened the new year with three victories: The Sentry Tournament of Champions, The American Express and the Genesis Invitational at Riviera. 

Rahm is making his seventh Masters appearance this week, and he has yet to miss a cut at Augusta National.