By Tim Liotta
Championships
Major Season: The 2023 Masters Tournament Remembered
The 87th Edition of the Masters Tournament, played April 6-9, 2023, produced yet another set of storylines worth remembering.
Results of the 2023 Masters Tournament
RAHM ROLLS
Jon Rahm captured the second major championship of his career, adding to the U.S. Open he won in 2021.
He became the fourth Spaniard to win the Masters, joining Seve Ballesteros (1980, 1983), Jose Maria Olazabal (1994, 1999) and Sergio García (2017), became the 18th player to win both the Masters and U.S. Open.
Rahm won the Masters on what would have been the 66th birthday of Seve Ballesteros, who died in 2011.
Rahm began the Masters by four-putting the first green for a double-bogey. The only other player ever to win the Masters after a first-hole double-bogey was Sam Snead in 1954.
Rahm's victory came in the seventh Masters of his career. He entered the tournament with four top-10s in his previous six Masters, and had never finished worse than T27 in the event.
Rahm's four-shot margin of victory was the largest at the Masters since Dustin Johnson won the 2020 Masters, held in November that year, won by five shots.
Jon Rahm's Major Championship Record
KOEPKA'S RETURN
Brooks Koepka, who entered the tournament a four-time major champion, led by two shots after three rounds before a final-round, 3-over-par 75 dropped him to T2, his first top-5 finish in a major since the 2021 U.S. Open.
Koepka led by two shots after two rounds, and his 12-under-par 132 (65-67) was the third-best 36-hole score in Masters history. Jordan Spieth posted 130 (64-66) in 2015 and Raymond Floyd's 131 (65-66) in 1976.
Brooks Koepka's Major Championship Record
PHIL'S FINAL ROUND
Phil Mickelson's final-round, 7-under-par 65 catapulted him into a tie for 2nd place, giving him 16 top-10 finishes in his career at Augusta, good enough for third place all-time. He also became the eighth player all-time to post a Masters top-10 in four different decades.
At age 52, Mickelson became the oldest player in Masters history to finish in the top five, surpassing the record of Jimmy Demaret, who finished T5 in 1962 at age 51..
The round tied Mickelson's best career score at the Masters, and was the lowest ever at the Masters by a player over the age of 50.
Phil Mickelson's Major Championship Record
ALSO AGE-DEFYING
Fred Couples, who won the 1992 Masters, made the cut to become the oldest player to make the cut at the Masters. Couples did it at the age of 63 years, six months, four months, older than Bernhard Langer, who held that distinction since 2020 when he made the cut 63 years, two months.
Fred Couples' Major Championship Record
AMATEUR ACHIEVEMENT
U.S. Amateur champ Sam Bennett began his Masters with a birdie on the first hole and an eagle on the second, and the first amateur to finish the first round in the top 10 since Ryan Moore in 2005.
Bennett finished two rounds at 8-under-par 136, for the best 36-hole total by an amateur since Ken Venturi posted 135 (66-69) in 1956. Bennett's 16th-place finish was the best by an amateur since Moore finished 13th in 2005
DRAW DIFFERENTIAL
Players in the late/early wave of tee times on Thursday/Friday averaged 144.4 for the opening 36 holes. The early/late half averaged 146.8, a +2.4 stroke differential. Jon Rahm overcame the early/late en route to victory.
WEATHER WOES
Play was suspended at 3:16pm Saturday after persistent rain made several unplayable due to flooding, with Koepka and Rahm on the seventh green and Koepka leading Rahm by four shots.
Second-round tee times were moved forward 30 minutes because of the threat of inclement weather, and the second round was suspended twice because of rain, the second time for the day, and had to be completed Saturday.
Three trees fell near the 17th tee just prior to the second suspension.
EARLY EXITS
Tiger Woods remained perfect at the Masters when it comes to playing the weekend. By making the 2023 cut on the number at 3-over-par 147, Woods has still never missed the cut at the Masters as a professional, going a perfect 23-for-23. He tied the Masters record for most consecutive cuts made, joining Gary Player and Fred Couples.
Woods withdrew due to injury prior to the resumption of play on Sunday.
Louis Oosthuizen withdrew before play resumed Saturday, having completed 17 holes on Friday before play was suspended.
Tiger Woods' Major Championship Record
MORE TIGER
When Woods made back-to-back double-bogeys at 15 and 16 on Saturday, it was the first time he'd ever gone double-double at the Masters after 1,735 holes.
FOND FAREWELLS
Former champions Larry Mize (1987) and Sandy Lyle (1988) both missed the cut in their final appearances at the Masters.