Jon Rahm, the 2023 Masters winner, had a less-than-ideal start to the tournament on Thursday with four-putt for a double bogey, and he blames Zach Ertz for the poor performance.
The Arizona Cardinals tight end texted Rahm before his tee time, which the Spaniard now laughingly admits threw him off at the start.
“He sent me a text, and I’m gonna paraphrase, that said ‘That first green is looking like a walk in the park right now’ 10 minutes before I four-putted to start the tournament,” Rahm said during his victory speech in Augusta, Ga on Sunday. “So thank you Zach. Don’t ever do that again, please.”
In celebration of the win, Ertz responded on Twitter, “I apologize for absolutely nothing! You can expect these texts for every major going forward my friend! Congratulations!”
Ertz’s former teammate, retired defensive end J.J. Watt, shared the texts between him and Ertz along with another in what appears to be a group chat featuring the three friends.
Watt wrote on Twitter: “can confirm. I think this means you deserve a green jacket @zertz_86.”
The group chat screenshot shows a text from Ertz saying, ‘Let’s have a day Jon!! Start fast!!” followed by a text from Watt reading, “Let’s go Jon!!! Pretend you’re playing with Zach and I. You’ll set the course record!”
Ertz then texted, “First hole green looks like a walk in the park.”
In a separate text to only Watt, Ertz wrote, “4 putt to start the round… not ideal,” to which Watt replied, “Horrendous. I said pretend you’re playing WITH us not like your playing LIKE us.”
Ertz responded with a pair of laughing emojis.
However, the text did not show to have a lasting effect on the 28-year-old Rahm, as he quickly recovered without skipping a beat to win his first green jacket.
After the first round, he remained in the top contender conversation, as he was tied with Norway’s Viktor Hovland and United States’ Brooks Koepka for first place.
In the weather-delayed tournament, Rahm eventually rallied past Koepka in the remainder of third round on Sunday, who was previously ahead with a four-shot lead on Rahm at 13-under par.
After the fourth hole in the fourth and final round, the two were tied at 10-under following Koepka’s bogey.
After Koepka bogeyed again on the sixth hole, Rahm kept the lead until the end. Rahm won the Masters by going 12-under par while surrounded by his family — wife Kelley Cahill and the couple’s two children, Kepa and Eneko.
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