Talking Golf With The Golf Guy Season Eight Episode Eight With Masters Champion-Jon Rahm
in Archives, Blog, Masters, Masters, Podcasts, Shows by Jeff Waters

Talking Golf With The Golf Guy Season Eight Episode Eight With Masters Champion-Jon Rahm

Legend has it that the late Seve Ballesteros, whose 66th birthday would have been this past Sunday, could get it up and down from the parking lot to save par

2023 Masters Champion, Jon Rahm, channeling his best Seve impersonation, did just that not once but twice on a rain-delayed, soggy Augusta National’s final day to claim the Green Jacket and become the first European Player to add both a Master’s title and the 2021 United States Open Championship to his trophy case.

Faltering Brooks Koepka and hard-charging 52-year-old Phil Mickelson, who matched the tournament’s low round with a 65, tied for second.

Mickelson, at 52, the oldest Major Champion winner, is now the oldest runner-up in Masters history.

With a final round of 69, Rahm becomes the fourth Spaniard to win the coveted Silver Replica of the Master’s Clubhouse that is symbolic of the Master’s Winner, joining Ballesteros, Jose Marie Olazabal, and Sergio Garcia.

While winning his fourth tournament this year, Rahm reclaims the No. 1 world golf ranking from last year’s champion, Scottie Scheffler.

Sam Bennet, a fifth-year senior at Texas A&M and the reigning United States Amateur Champion opened with rounds of 68s to briefly flirt with the lead but faded on the weekend to finish-16 and claim low amateur honors.

In obvious discomfort in the cold and wet conditions, Tiger Woods eventually withdrew before the start of the third round after tying Gary Player and Fred Couples for most consecutive cuts made in Masters history.

The manufactured controversy surrounding PGA Tour players vs. LIV members was nothing.

From the Champions Dinner Tuesday night to socialization on the range and clubhouse, the eighteen members of LIV were there to play golf, and that’s what they did, with solid performances by both tours.

Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson tied for second, Patrick Reed tied for fourth with four rounds at par or better, as eight major champions finished among the top ten and ties.

Both organizations fared well for themselves playing in the same tournament as they continued headfirst down the road to resolution and compromise before their messy and inevitable day in court.

But the 2023 Masters Golf Tournament belonged to Jon Rahm, with a masterful performance on Sunday.

Much like his hero Severiano Ballesteros on the 40th anniversary of Seve winning his second Masters title, Rahm produced some remarkable saves in his round of 69, with his only bogey coming on number nine.

Rahm birdied the fourth hole from the trees by fading a low runner to eight feet and then getting up and down on eighteen to save par after missing both the fairway and the green.

A Seve par, he remarked later.

Jon Rahm is now halfway to the Grand Slam, joining Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, and Phil Mickelson as the only three active players still in the hunt for that elusive prize, with the PGA Championship scheduled for Oak Hill Country Club in May.

I had the chance to listen to Masters Champion Jon Rahm’s final interview Sunday night.

Please Listen Here:

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With over a half-century of engagement in the sport of Golf, Jeff Waters has become one of the most accomplished, experienced, and qualified Golf Professionals in the history of the PGA of America. He is a fully certified and trained Master Professional joining an exceedingly small and elite group of Professionals in the World to have achieved this prestigious title. Jeff holds University Degrees in Political Science, Teaching Minors in Economics and Finance, attended graduate school in Commercial Recreation, taught undergraduate classes at the University of Utah, and earned a master’s in business administration. With more than fifty years of experience and success in the business of Golf, Jeff spent ten years playing and competing in the game at all levels ten years laboring as an Assistant Golf Professional, acquiring the job-related skills, responsibilities, and training required for a career in golf, ten years fulfillment as a PGA Head Professional overseeing all aspects of the total golf course operation, three years’ service as Director of Player Development for Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation, administering and managing multiple golf course programs and activities, thirty-three years as a Golf Coach and Instructor at The Rocky Mountain Golf Academy, The University of Utah’s College of Health and the Granite Peaks Community College, teaching and tutoring the game. Additionally, Jeff has spent the last twenty-seven years as the Owner, President, and CEO of Rocky Mountain Golf Enterprises (RMG), a Utah-registered and licensed business offering golf-related services throughout the Western United States utilizing golf as the marketing tool. Finally, Jeff has performed on the national media stage for the past thirty-eight years as an Announcer, Author, Producer, and Talk Radio Host, communicating and sharing the joy, art, and skill that is the Game, Sport, and Challenge of Golf. Jeff, a well-known golf journalist, has been active in print media from an early age. His articles, commentary, and features regularly appear nationwide. He has authored two golf instruction books: “The Ten Commandments of Golf, Proven Principles That Make Your Golf Game Better,” and “The Short Game, the Transition from the Golf Course to the Putting Green.” Both are available as e-book downloads and on Amazon. Jeff penned his first short story while still in his teens and has since published 100’s of commentaries, essays, and instruction pieces in magazines, blogs, internet forums, and other platforms, including Golf Today, Utah Golf Magazine, Utah Golf News, Rocky Mountain Golfer, Fairways Magazine, Jackson Hole Golf News, Talking Golf with the Golf Guy, Voices in the Community.com, and Jeffgolfguy.com. He is the author of multiple books, stories, articles, posts, and evaluations of other writers’ publications. Jeff began his public communications career in High School and has had a constant presence in sports commentary throughout the years, providing play-by-play and color analysis at many diverse levels, including announcing football, baseball, and basketball games, along with local and national golf tournaments, while performing on other media platforms as well. Jeff was an early pioneer in Sports Radio, hosting a weekly talk show, “Talking Golf with the Golf Guy,” broadcasted and aired on various radio stations throughout the regional market, syndicated nationally on The Rocky Mountain Golf Network, and offered on most of the recognized podcast directories and streaming services. Over his extensive announcing career, Jeff has provided the vocal narration for hundreds of voice-overs, commercials, radio programming, sports interviews, tournament updates, blogs, podcasts, audiobooks, and videos, including the original voice work on the best-selling X-Box Links golf game. Jeff also contributed voice and commentary on the Centennial production, “One Hundred Years of the Utah State Amateur,” which is available on iTunes and Apple Music. As a member of the Golf Writers Association of America, Jeff has attended and reported on-site more than a hundred golf tournaments, including an assortment of Major Golf Championships, including The United States Open Championship, The Masters, the PGA Championship, and The Ryder Cup, along with other competitions on the PGA Tours annual tournament schedule. Jeff has produced, directed, and distributed numerous film and video projects as stand-alone presentations while incorporating them within his blog, website, syndicated podcasts, and national radio programming. All are available for review on YouTube. Known as “The Voice of Golf” and “The Golf Guy” throughout the Western United States, Jeff is regularly sought for advice and counsel and often speaks to groups on golf-related subjects. You may contact Jeff by email at jeffgolfguy@att.net and on his website at www.jeffgolfguy.com.