The Masters 2023 LIVE: Leaderboard and reaction as Jon Rahm wins first green jacket

Jon Rahm hailed his Masters victory as “incredibly meaningful” after securing a second major title on the 40th anniversary of his idol Seve Ballesteros claiming a second win at Augusta National.

On what would also have been the 66th birthday of his fellow Spaniard, Rahm carded a closing 69 for a four-shot win over Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson rounded off by the kind of par on the 18th of which Ballesteros would have been proud.

“History of the game is a big part of why I play and one of the reasons why I play, and Seve being one of them,” said Rahm, whose father took up golf after watching Ballesteros captain Europe to victory in the 1997 Ryder Cup at Valderrama.

“If it wasn’t for that Ryder Cup in ’97, my dad and I talk about it all the time, we don’t know where I would be or where as a family we would be.

“For me to get it done on the 40th anniversary of his win, his birthday, on Easter Sunday, it’s incredibly meaningful.”

Brooks Koepka hit out at the pace of play after finishing runner-up to Jon Rahm in the 87th Masters.

Koepka took a two-shot lead into the final round at Augusta National, but could only card a closing 75 to finish joint second with Phil Mickelson, four shots behind Rahm.

The final pair took close to five hours to complete their rounds, although they waited on almost every hole and Patrick Cantlay – in the group ahead with Viktor Hovland – was widely held to be responsible for the slow going.

“The group in front of us was brutally slow,” Koepka said. “Jon went to the bathroom like seven times during the round, and we were still waiting.”

Masters prize money

Total purse: $18 million

1st: $3,240,000 -- Jon Rahm

2nd: $1,944,000 -- Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka ($1.594 million each)

3rd: $1,224,000

4th: $864,000 -- Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed, Russell Henley ($744,000 each)

5th: $720,000

6th: $648,000

7th: $603,000 -- Cameron Young, Viktor Hovland ($580,500 each)

8th: $558,000

9th: $522,000 -- Sahith Theegala

10th: $486,000 -- Scottie Scheffler, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa ($432,000 each)

The 2023 Masters came to a painful end for Tiger Woods, with the five-time green jacket winner forced to withdraw over the weekend after reaggravating an injury. But Woods was in the news elsewhere, too, with a ball used the final round of his sensational maiden major triumph at Augusta in 1997 selling for $64,124 (£51,850) at auction.

Will Zalatoris’s injury will rule him out of the USPGA Championship, which is the next major on the schedule for the world’s best golfers. This year’s USPGA will be held on the East Course at Oak Hill in upstate New York, which last hosted the major a decade ago. Jason Dufner won his only major title in 2013, leapfrogging Jim Furyk in the final group.

The 2023 event begins on 18 May.

Some tough news for Will Zalatoris, who withdrew from the Masters moments before he was due to tee off on Thursday. The talented American, who six top ten finishers in majors since 2020, will miss the remainder of the season after undergoing back surgery.

“As much as I hate not being able to play the rest of this season, I am happy that I am already seeing the benefits of the procedure,” he wrote in a statement released on Monday. “Playing and living in pain is not fun.”

A major blow for a 26-year-old who had really been knocking on the door, and for Zach Johnson, surely shorn of one of his Ryder Cup bankers.

Jon Rahm couldn’t quite believe it when it was put to him yesterday, but the Spaniard’s win yesterday make him the first European golfer to win both the US Open and the Masters.

The course siren that echoed around a soggy Augusta National on Saturday evening signalled the end of play for the day. It also concluded a sorry episode for golf fans trapped by an antiquated tradition behind the Masters and its television coverage.

Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm, alongside amateur sensation Sam Bennett, ensured a captivating final group for viewers after the third round groups were hastily pushed out following the unrelenting downpour. It was due to provide both magnificent golf alongside the theatre of LIV Golf vs PGA Tour, which has consumed golf for more than a year. The final players began their round shortly after 6pm BST, but fans were denied a conventional way to watch until after 8pm BST.

The situation was then exacerbated after approximately 17 minutes. A miserable experience compounded after television coverage was abruptly ended due to the weather as puddles masked the steep slopes around the greens. It left the patrons on site with a sad march away from the property and many disgruntled at home.

Jack Rathborn, sports editor of The Independent, outlines why the Masters might look to change an outdated model.

Jon Rahm has set his sights on the “absolutely amazing” feat of completing a career grand slam after his impressive Masters triumph.

Rahm was surprised to learn that his four-shot victory at Augusta National had earned him a place in the record books as the first European player to win the Masters and US Open.

But he is well aware that means he is halfway towards joining Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players to have won all four majors.

Rory McIlroy needs to win the Masters to complete his collection, while victories for runner-up Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth in the US Open and US PGA, respectively, would gain them entry into golf’s most exclusive club.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Rahm said. “I mean, it would be amazing. It would be great. Not many people have been able to do it, and to be able to finish it out and close out and do a grand slam would be absolutely amazing.”

The green jacket may have stayed on the PGA Tour but the LIV rebels made their presence known across four days at Augusta. Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson shared second place at eight-under with Patrick Reed one shot further back inside the top five, showing that a year-or-so out of sight of much of the golfing world had done their game little harm.

“We’re still the same people,” Koepka said after the final round. “I know if I’m healthy, I know I can compete. I don’t think any of the guys that played this event thought otherwise, either.

“When Phil [Mickelson] plays good, we know he’s going to compete. P-Reed [Patrick Reed], the same thing. I think that’s just manufactured by the media that we can’t compete anymore; that we are washed up.

“It is fractured, I guess, from the fans’ perspective. But as far as us, I think everybody saw it this week. It’s nice to see everybody. There’s no hard feelings pretty much. I think that’s the way everybody should see it.”