Masters talking points: Rahm the best, Woods puts himself through the ringer - again

Koepka shows glimpses of a return to his best form while Mickelson lives up to 'Phil the Thrill' moniker

Jon Rahm holds the Masters trophy after winning at the Augusta National Golf Club. EPA

Jon Rahm was crowned champion at the 87th Masters following a superb Sunday showing to seal a four-shot win and a first Green Jacket. We look at some of the main talking points from the season’s first major.

Rahm undoubted best player on the planet

Rahm began his Masters with a four-putt for double bogey on the opening green, and started Sunday – there were 30 holes of the rain-affected tournament to play – four shots off a seemingly unstoppable Brooks Koepka. He concluded the event with a cruising victory, a second major championship in the locker and a return to world No 1.

Rahm was even placed on the bad side of the draw at Augusta, but did not let the adverse weather and numerous delays deter him. Throughout, he put on a ball-striking clinic, hitting 86 per cent of fairways and 72 per cent of greens in regulation. He putted beautifully. He displayed his ever-improving temperament. He won on what would have been his hero Seve Ballesteros’ birthday. Almost incredibly, it lifted Rahm to four PGA Tour victories this season; it’s only April.

Having come into the week with less fanfare than the other two members of golf’s current "Big Three" – Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler – Rahm separated himself from his rivals. It might be recency bias, but right now he feels definitely the best player in the world.

Koepka, finally fit and healthy, might be back

OK, it is a small sample size, and by his own reckoning the Masters is the easiest major to win, but Koepka conjured some of the form of old. He won last week on the divisive – and albeit limited – LIV Tour, then rocked up to Augusta and held both the 36- and 54-hole leads. Yes, the final-round 75 was extremely disappointing, and he has more recently shown signs on major Sundays as struggling when in contention. However, tied-2nd for the week suggests Koepka can indeed still raise his game for the biggest events when he is fully healthy – something he says he was far from in 2021 and 2022.

Last year, he left Augusta on Friday night, when he claims he took out his fury at the missed cut by attempting to punch a hole in his car windscreen. It will take further examination to see if Koepka can get back anywhere near his 2017-2019 peak, when he reeled off four major wins and seemed impenetrable when the light shone brightest. Yet one thing is for certain: having Koepka competing at the elite end is only good for the game.

Mickelson unexpectedly lives up to 'The Thrill' moniker

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest wins of the week was clinched by one of the tournament’s all-time greats. Mickelson is already a three-time Masters champion, and sits as the oldest major winner in men's golf history, but he was not expected to feature much on the leaderboard at Augusta. Then “Phil The Thrill” summoned one of the most unpredictable performances in a career full of them. At age 52, and with all the rancour of LIV Golf surrounding him, Mickelson fired an incredible 65 on Sunday to finish tied-2nd. It tied his lowest round at the Masters (way back, in 1996), and made him the oldest player ever to finish in the tournament's top five.

On Sunday, he birdied 17 and 18 to make possible the most implausible storyline. In three LIV starts this year, his best result is 27th, while he has one top 20 at the Masters in the past seven years. Trying to keep a low profile at the outset, Mickelson’s brought the noise by the end. It represented a truly remarkable week's work.

Tiger Woods puts himself through the ringer - again

The video of Woods struggling to even walk in the wet on Saturday was hard to watch. The pain was clear, the discomfort palpable. The feeling was that Woods would be advised not to return on Sunday and put his body through the torture. Ultimately, that is what he decided. With yet another Masters record secure – the five-time champion has now made an unparalleled 23 consecutive cuts at Augusta – Woods withdrew. The sense is why continue doing this to himself? At 47, and with 15 majors and his place for many as the most talented golfer ever, Woods could be forgiven for calling time on his major career. However, he will no doubt point to chill and the damp, not to mention Augusta National’s notoriously taxing walk, as creating too perfect a storm for his surgically repaired right leg to overcome.

For sure, Woods will force his way back: the Open at Hoylake in July, somewhere he has won a Claret Jug before, would be too titanic a temptation to resist.

McIlroy comes up short once more in grand slam quest

Another attempt at the career grand slam, another Masters disappointment for McIlroy. The four-time major champion was one of the heavy favourites going into the week – many thought the battle for the Green Jacket would come down to him versus Scheffler – but it could not have gone much worse.

McIlroy, who has captured the game’s other three major titles, fired a 72 and a 77 to miss the cut, his second round in particular woefully substandard (he carded seven bogeys). At one point, he appeared resigned to his fate. It marked McIlroy’s ninth attempt at completing the grand slam since his fourth and most recent major win, some time ago, in August 2014.

Unquestionably, he possesses the game for Augusta – he has seven top-10s, including solo second last year – but patently there is an issue when it comes to the mental side as he chases that elusive Green Jacket. McIlroy will be back, of course, but the longer he goes without getting over the line the more the scar tissue will build. Just ask Greg Norman or Ernie Els.