Jon Rahm is certainly among the favourites to win The Masters this week, with the Spaniard going into the first major of the year off the back of some outstanding form on LIV Golf.
Rahm, of course, is no stranger to success at Augusta National. The 31-year-old won The Masters back in 2023, while he had registered four top 10 finishes at the event before that.
Perhaps surprisingly, therefore, Rahm felt that he often made an error while playing Amen Corner during his first few appearances at the tournament.
Jon Rahm opens up on the error he often made in Amen Corner during his first few Masters starts
There is arguably no run of golf holes anywhere on the planet that is as iconic as the 11th, 12th, and 13th at Augusta National.
The 11th tends to be a brutal par four, while 12 seems to be particularly deceptive. The par three – named Golden Bell – played a pivotal role in Tiger Woods‘ victory in 2019, with all of his rivals seemingly incapable of finding the putting surface off the tee.
And while the 13th does provide an opportunity to make an eagle, it is not to be taken lightly. No one will forget Rory McIlroy‘s approach in the last round 12 months ago, with the ball inexplicably ending up in Rae’s Creek.
Rahm was asked about navigating that section of the course, and he suggested that he has learned from past mistakes, particularly on the 12th.
“I’ll start with 12. 12 is the easiest one,” he began.
“Number one, be on land. Number two, hopefully it’s on the green. If not, let’s try to make it up-and-down.
“I think early on in my first years in the Masters, I tried to be more aggressive than I needed to. Now it’s hit the middle of the green, two-putt, move on. It’s pretty simple. I’m pretty confident when I say I’m over-par on that hole. I think I’m over-par on 12.
“But on 11, I’ve played good in the past. You get to the tee, it’s you hit driver as hard as you possibly can. I think we all have a very similar strategy. We all aim basically at the right edge of the back bunker, try to hit on that middle third of the green on the wider side. If you happen to pull a little bit, you have plenty of room to hopefully miss it on the green. Then if you miss right, you can always try to get up-and-down and at worst make a five.
“I don’t think I’ve ever gone flag hunting to any pin that is on the left side unless it was a year when it was downwind and you find yourself with a short iron where you can actually be aggressive. Most of the time, it’s six, five, four iron, and you’re just hoping to hit the green.
“Then on 13, being a par five, obviously you want to start off with a good tee shot. Obviously a lot more challenging now with the distance to give yourself the right shot into the green. What a lot of people don’t know with this added number is even if you hit a draw down the left, if you don’t hit it far enough, those tree branches are still in your way. So you can’t really go for it as you hit a big draw into not the widest green.
“If you’re drawing it too much right to left, if you land it in the middle, you can still miss the green left, and it just becomes a tricky shot. 13, being a par five, is try to be aggressive off the tee. If not, you can still leave yourself a wedge shot to try and make a birdie.
“I think on 11 and 12, we’re all trying to eliminate big numbers. Birdies can happen, not very often, but just trying to play a conservative line with an aggressive swing.”
Jon Rahm reflects on Rory McIlroy’s nightmare moment on 13 at Augusta National
As mentioned, that 13th hole provided one of the most shocking moments, perhaps in Masters history last year.
McIlroy looked to have a simple task on his hands, putting his ball on the green from around 80 yards and potentially giving himself a chance of making a birdie. It seemed that nothing worse than a par was possible.
However, he found the hazard and ended up making a double bogey. Had he not won, it would have been a moment that would have haunted him for the remainder of his career.
But Rahm insisted that he had a lot of sympathy for McIlroy in that situation.
“Can I understand? 100 per cent, we can all understand. Out of all shots, because he laid up down the left side on 13, which is the flattest side to that pin, it is surprising that with how well he was playing, he would miss it right of the pin, having that slope left of it. He could have hit it 20 feet left and most likely end up with 10 feet for birdie,” he said.
“He was dealing with other things. I hope to be in a position one day to go down the 13th at any golf course with a chance to win the Grand Slam, and knowing how well he’s played here in the past and hasn’t gotten it done.
“So I think it’s a reflection of the magnitude of the moment than the shot itself. Again, is it surprising entirely? No. But it’s such a big moment that it can make you make mistakes like that.”
For those fans of McIlroy, it was another moment that explained why his victory was so special. That final round summed up his pursuit of a fifth major title over the last decade.
He tried everything he could to throw it away, even hitting a couple of shots that some mid-handicap golfers would recognise.
But that just proved how much getting across the line meant to him.
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