The 2023 Masters: An Unforgettable Tournament

This past weekend was the 2023 Masters tournament in Augusta, Georgia, the most anticipated and memorable golf tournament to ever take place. The thousands of people that had the opportunity to step foot on the sacred ground of Augusta National and the millions of people who watched from home, witnessed a part of history and watched a tournament that will never be forgotten. From opening day humidity to falling trees, the difficulty of the course combined to create the masterpiece that was the 2023 Masters tournament.

Coming into the tournament, there were a lot of favorites to bring home the Covenant Green Jacket, with one of those being the 2022 Masters champion and world no. 1 Scottie Scheffler. Scheffler was looking to join three other golf legends to win the tournament back-to-back. The only three to have ever done it are Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, and Tiger Woods. Another favorite was Spanish golfer, Jon Rahm, the eventual winner of the 2023 Masters. The road to the Green Jacket wasn’t an easy trip for the Spaniard.

After getting a double bogey on the opening hole of the tournament, things weren’t looking great for Rahm. Fortunately for him, he was able to turn things around and get seven birdies and an eagle to finish in a tie for first place with a round-one score of 65. LIV Golf’s Brooks Koepka was playing his best golf as held the lead for 54 holes, going into the final round. This wasn’t an easy path for anyone as round two was cut short and resumed on Saturday morning due to weather, and round three was cut short as well and resumed on Sunday. To go along with the craziness of the tournament, we saw 23-year-old Amateur Sam Bennet play the best golf we’ve seen from an Amateur in a long time. Bennet was sitting in third place after the second round and was in one of the final groupings on championship Sunday.

The final day at Augusta National was a marathon, not a sprint. The final pairing of Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm played a total of 30 holes as a result of having to finish the final 12 holes of round three and then a full final round. With a lead going into the final round, Koepka was looking to add another major trophy to his collection. He was three for three at major tournaments after leading going into the final round of play, but Jon Rahm had other plans.

Koepka fell apart during the final round of play, allowing Rahm to catch up and eventually take the lead. The round started with Rahm trailing by four shots and ended with him walking up to the 18th green with the tournament in his hands. Rahm finished with a final score of 12 under par, four strokes ahead of Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka. The historical win for Rahm is his fourth of the season and the one that allowed him to move into the number one spot in the world rankings over Scottie Scheffler. This year’s Masters was the first time that the current world number one placed the green jacket on the player replacing him. To make things even better, Rahm’s win came on the 40th anniversary of the late Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros winning his second Masters and on what would’ve been his 66th birthday.

The 2023 Masters has come and gone, memories have been made, and the history books have been rewritten, until next year Augusta.