AUGUSTA, Ga. — This was not the green jacket defense Jon Rahm had in mind.
The 29-year-old Spaniard, who’s on the LIV Golf tour, followed up his 2023 Masters victory with an unmemorable 9-over-par finish this week.
“There’s a lot of things that contributed to me not having my best week, and one of them I think was obviously on the greens,” Rahm said. “I never really had the pace of the greens, and a couple too many three-putts.’’
Rahm had a stunning eight three-putts in his four rounds and had a total of 130 putts for the tournament.
It’s impossible to win a Masters with those numbers.
Asked what this week meant to him as the defending champion and hosting the champion’s dinner Tuesday night, Rahm sounded wistful.
“It’s harder to talk about it when I’ve played this bad,’’ he said. “It’s been nice to have some receptions walking up to some tees no matter what my score was and seeing the appreciation. But when you don’t have your best week, it’s hard to have to stay now to put the jacket on somebody else [when I] never really ever have a chance.’’
Rory McIlroy has now played 16 career Masters without a win.
This week was his 10th Masters since it became the last leg of the career Grand Slam he needs to become the sixth player ever to complete it.
And on Sunday, he again went home empty-handed, never having been in contention.
He shot 73 on Sunday and finished 4-over for the tournament.
“I don’t really know what to say,’’ McIlroy said afterward. “I just sort of felt like my game was OK and managed it pretty well, but obviously Friday was a really tough day, and losing five shots sort of put me in a pretty difficult position going into the weekend. Once you get seven or eight back going into the weekend here, it’s hard to make up that ground.’’
He said he needs “to take a little bit of time and reflect on this week and what I did well, what I didn’t do so well, and sort of try to make a plan for the next few months.’’
What a week for Neal Shipley, the 22-year-old Pittsburgh native, who played college golf at James Madison and is now a grad student at Ohio State.
He was the only amateur to make the cut, which assured him as the low.
And he was paired with Tiger Woods in Sunday’s final round.
“Playing with Tiger, Sunday at the Masters, the whole week, I think I have to win one of these things to kind of top this week,’’ Shipley said after shooting a 73 on Sunday to finish 12-over for the week. “Definitely been a dream week, but looking forward to being out here [as a pro] soon hopefully.’’
Shipley earned a spot in the field this week as the U.S. Amateur runner-up last year. He’s gone from little-known college golfer to a week like this.
“It’s certainly been quite the journey,’’ he said.
Shipley shot 80 in the third round Saturday, which he said, “Is never fun.’’
“I wasn’t too pleased after the round,’’ he went on. “We went quickly to the practice facility to get some work in and my caddie came up to me and said, ‘Hey, guess who we are going to be paired with tomorrow?’
“I was just like, ‘No way it’s Tiger.’ And he said, ‘Yeah.’ I got pretty excited, and that’s when the emotions turned around. I wasn’t too nervous, but when we got here this morning and saw Tiger on the range, it was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is actually happening.’
“I definitely think it’s one of my more relaxed rounds of the week. Tiger made me feel really welcomed. I mean, he was cool, chatting it up. Just kind of a cool, like, casual round with Tiger, you know, other than you’re here at the Masters.’’
Three-time green jacket winner Phil Mickelson, at age 53, closed out his 31st Masters shooting a 2-over 74 to finish 8-over for the week.
Mickelson has now made 101 cuts in major championships, the third most in the history of the game behind only Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.
“If you’re going to contend on the weekend, you’ve got to get there,’’ Mickelson said. “That’s part of the battle. There’s no reason why I cannot get back and play at a really high level. I didn’t shoot the scores this week, but it wasn’t that far off.’’
Shane Lowry was paired with Mickelson and marveled at the skills he still possesses.
“I love playing golf with Phil,” Lowry said. “He hit some shots that I’m kind of right there enjoying as a spectator more than anything else. When I saw the draw last night, I was excited to go out and play a Masters Sunday with him.
“He lived up to his name. He hit some unbelievable shots. He hit a shot from over in the trees on the 8th hole I think only he would go for, let alone pull off, but it was good fun.”