Papa Rahm's most special Masters

In Augusta, José María Olazabal is a 55-year-old boy.

The double champion of the Masters (94 and 99) gets excited when he breathes the air of those meadows where he touched the sky.

“This site has given me everything.

Define my career.

And although the field is for me already a little monster, coming to the champions' dinner and reliving an infinity of memories from my first time, in '85, as an amateur, makes me feel at peace with myself ”, says the Basque, and he almost cried, before the start this Thursday of the first big of the season.

Olazabal speaks while waiting for Jon Rahm to arrive, the 26-year-old student for whom he has a double message.

First, congratulate him on his paternity after the birth this Saturday of his first child, Kepa Cahill ("3.2 kg and 52cm, or pork rinds from the north!", Said the happy father).

And then sting him with the victory of his Real Sociedad against Athletic of which Jon is a fan just that day, in the Cup final. "I am looking forward to seeing him to gloat a bit", jokes the one from Hondarribia (Gipuzkoa) about his colleague from Barrika (Bizkaia).

The meeting will be made to wait because Rahm will not train at Augusta National until this Wednesday, with only one day to refresh the secrets of the field and feel how it beats again in April, after the strange edition of the previous year in November.

The birth of Kepa (he is named after a golfer's uncle) has delayed the arrival of Rahm, who however will make up for that lack of hours of practice with a clean and clear mind, a ton less pressure and an inner peace that, as well Olazabal knows, in Augusta you pay at the price of gold.

Rahm had planned to land this Tuesday afternoon in Augusta (Georgia) from Scottsdale (Arizona), pass a PCR test and wait for the result to be able to train after several days without touching a stick.

An unusual preparation before a great one who is the one that awakens the best sensations in the Basque and the one that has capital letters.

Rahm feels that he is the next link in a legend, inaugurated by Seve Ballesteros (1980 and 83), who on May 7 marks the 10th anniversary of his death;

that Olazabal inherited with honors;

and that continued, making himself wait, Sergio García in 2017. The Castellón, who now claims to step on Augusta with the best vibrations in a long time, triumphed just in the year in which the rookie Rahm was examined, a cyclone in his first steps as a professional.

31 strokes under par

The Basque then paid the excess of tension signing despite everything a remarkable 27th place. Since then, he has not dropped from the top 10: fourth, ninth and seventh in the last three editions.

There are three diplomas when in the other three greats together he accumulates two: a fourth step in the PGA of 2018 and a third in the US Open of 2019. For Rahm, as the tradition of Spanish golf dictates (no one has won the US Open or the PGA), Augusta is a matter of skin.

In these last three years he accumulated a total of 31 strokes under par at the end of the Masters (-11, -10 and -11) and added 11 consecutive laps with par as the worst result (when in the third round of last year he collided with a pine in hole eight), 10 of them beating the field.

An exhibition of regularity without comparison among the best in the world, a constant in Rahm, who every Sunday usually knocks on the doors of triumph on the American circuit: this year he has played seven tournaments and in five he has finished in the

, while finishing to get used to the new material, from the Callaway firm.

Kepa C. Rahm was born the day Athletic lost a historic Cup final. A few days later, he is already

the Masters.

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