Golf: Jon Rahm inherits Seve’s character and passion | Sports

From Seve to Seve. Jon Rahm’s fate seems stapled to the figure of Ballesteros. The Cantabrian genius was the reason why golf entered the life of a Barrika family when there is not even a course in this small Biscayan town. And the great myth is the inspiration that has led the Basque to the top of his sport, champion of the Augusta Masters this Sunday with an exhibition of play and character. after the last putta look at the sky ju…

From Seve to Seve. Jon Rahm’s fate seems stapled to the figure of Ballesteros. The Cantabrian genius was the reason why golf entered the life of a Barrika family when there is not even a course in this small Biscayan town. And the great myth is the inspiration that has led the Basque to the top of his sport, champion of the Augusta Masters this Sunday with an exhibition of play and character. after the last putt, a look at the sky joining the palms to remember the teacher, who would have turned 66 on April 9. Rahm’s second great, after the 2021 US Open, is the tenth in Spanish golf, the sixth green jacket in a generational change that is already history: Seve (1980, 83), Olazabal (1994, 99), Sergio García ( 2017) and Rahm (the only European to gather US Open and Masters).

“Do it for Seve!”, shouted the fans of the Spanish golfer on his imperial path to success, winner with -12, four shots ahead of Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka and a round always under control, with nerves of steel . The same encouragement that he heard in the 2018 Ryder Cup, when the Basque was preparing to convert a putt which gave him an individual victory against Tiger Woods and brought Europe closer to victory against the United States.

A strong thread unites Seve and Rahm. Olazabal continued the magical afternoons in Augusta of the pioneer, and culminated that love for the Ryder that he learned from Ballesteros with the unforgettable European comeback in 2012, the miracle of Medinah. But it is Rahm who best represents Seve’s inner fire, his irrepressible passion, his indomitable character, an iron that cannot be bent. This is recognized by the fans, who spurred Rahm on with Seve’s shout even though he was fighting for the Masters with a boy from the house, Koepka. The people celebrated the birdies of Mercy because they see in him that personality and charisma that they adored so much in the beatle of Pedrena. Curiously, Miguel and Carmen Ballesteros, sons of the five-time champion, also followed him on the field this Sunday.

“Jon has that character and that passion of Seve. He was our example because of his attitude, his fighting spirit, the fact that he never gave up. Jon has all of that,” explains Olazabal. The double winner in the green jacket was waiting for the student at the green on the 18th, and both merged into an emotional hug that symbolized the heritage of Spanish golf in Augusta. “It had to be today,” Rahm told him. “Olazabal told me about Seve and if he had continued a little longer we would both have cried,” the new world number later recounted.

Rahm is a golf encyclopedia, “a junkie” who can be watching old videos and consulting historical statistics at five in the morning, almost a sports biographer of Seve, of whom he can recite from memory every shot he took in a specific edition of the game. British Open or Masters. “Seve pushed me from above. He is one of the reasons why I play. If it wasn’t for the ’97 Ryder, me and my dad talk about it all the time, I don’t know where I’d be right now,” Rahm explained.

The journey started by chance. There was no golf tradition in the family —a genealogical study points to the Swiss carpenter George Rahm, Jon’s great-great-grandfather’s grandfather, as the origin of the surname in the Basque Country—, and the young Jon dreamed of being an Athletic footballer (his grandfather Sabin He was the team’s delegate for 33 years). His father, Edorta, played paddle tennis with his friends. And one of them was invited by Repsol to the 1997 Ryder, that of Captain Seve. He came back so excited about golf that he convinced his colleagues to trade the racket for the bag of clubs. This is how sport entered the Rahm house. The Martiartu sports club, the Larrabea golf club, an hour’s drive away, the Eduardo Celles school…

That boy who began to imitate his father is today, at the age of 28, the best golfer in the world, the great European leader of the Ryder along with Rory McIlroy, a flag of the American circuit in his troubles with the Saudi League and the owner of a green jacket. He won it on Seve’s anniversary day, as if guided by an invisible force that encouraged his ball. “At the Masters there is something that is transmitted to all of us. As a Spaniard, you believe that there is something special here, that it is our destiny,” said Rahm, Seve’s heir.

Ranking of the Augusta Masters.

You can follow EL PAÍS Sports on Facebook y Twitterpoint here to receive our weekly newsletter.