Jon Rahm endures tough conditions to challenge Brooks Koepka at Masters

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Careers concluded and records were broken after the Masters’ second round resumed at 8 a.m. Saturday. And then there was Jon Rahm, left with the difficult task of trying to win the Masters while facing the worst of this week’s weather.

A constant rain and temperatures cold enough to put a sting into fingertips challenged the players who had to return to Augusta National after Friday’s delays. The wet conditions and bulky waterproofs left players with mid- and long-irons into greens where they’re accustomed to hitting wedges.

Only three players in the field had to play more holes in this weather than Rahm, and yet he is only two behind leader Brooks Koepka at the tournament’s halfway point.

The rain that’s been anxiously anticipated all week arrived as scheduled. Its duration and intensity will determine how much golf is played Saturday, though it has yet to interrupt play after the tournament’s resumption.

The tournament did need to make the rare move of sending threesomes off both tees for the third round, however. Rahm, Koepka and U.S. Amateur champion Sam Bennett will tee off in the final group at 1:06 p.m. Eastern.

Rahm vs. Koepka is a heavyweight fight, because of the combatants’ physiques as well as their resumes. Koepka owns four majors. Rahm started this year with wins in three of his first five starts. The 2021 U.S. Open champion currently sits atop the FedExCup standings.

Bennett offers quite a contrast from his two playing partners, a college kid who weighs in at about 170 pounds and among the shortest hitters in the field. The stand bag belonging to the fifth-year senior at Texas A&M is being carried by his college coach, Brian Kortan. But Bennett has impressed with his self-belief and guile.

When asked Friday why he felt he could beat the likes of Koepka, Bennett matter-of-factly replied, “Because I know that my good golf is good enough.”

Koepka finished his second round some 24 hours ago, posting scores of 65-67 to take control of the tournament. He held a five-shot lead at one point Friday. Rahm was able to overcome the more difficult side of the draw to provide a challenge for him, however.

Rahm’s goal for the 8.5 holes he had to play Saturday was even par. He beat that benchmark by one, shooting 35 in conditions that playing partner Cameron Young called “basically impossible.”

Rahm is the only player who trails Koepka by fewer than four shots. Bennett is in third place at 8 under, while Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland are tied for fourth, six shots back. Jason Day, Sam Burns, Jordan Spieth and Rookie of the Year Cameron Young are all 5 under. Koepka has put some space between himself and the field but the leaderboard contains some of the game’s biggest names.

Ahead of Rahm, Larry Mize and Sandy Lyle started Saturday morning by playing the final holes of their Masters careers. Lyle was on the 18th green when play resumed. Fred Couples returned Saturday morning to his ball in the 18th fairway, knowing a bogey would make him the oldest player to ever make the Masters cut. Couples is one of the most popular players on these grounds but most of the patrons streamed past him, a human river flowing down the steep incline of Augusta National’s 10th hole, in pursuit of Woods.

He began Saturday with the shortest, but perhaps the most perplexing, tee shot at Augusta National, at the par-3 12th. With patrons not allowed on the course until 8 a.m., the same time that play started, he hit the shot in front of a small, but rapidly-growing, group. Woods started Saturday at 2 over par. It seemed he’d need to play the final seven holes of his second round in even par to make his 23rd consecutive Masters cut, tying a tournament record.

He made birdie at the 15th hole after his third shot struck the flag. Bogeys on his final two holes left him at 3 over but it was enough to make the cut on the number.

“I got a chance to play on the weekend,” Woods joked while awaiting where the cut would fall. “I wish I get a chance to play two more rounds.”

He will. Woods will tee off in the final group off the 10th tee. A few yards away, a heavyweight fight for the green jacket will just be beginning.