Jon Rahm, the 2023 Masters winner, had a less-than-ideal begin 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 beginning.
“He sent me a text, and I’m gonna paraphrase, that said ‘That first green is looking like a walk within the park straight away’ 10 minutes before I four-putted to start out the tournament,” Rahm said during his victory speech in Augusta, Ga on Sunday. “So thanks Zach. Don’t ever try this again, please.”
In celebration of the win, Ertz responded on Twitter, “I apologize for absolutely nothing! You may expect these texts for each major going forward my friend! Congratulations!”
Ertz’s former teammate, retired defensive end J.J. Watt, shared the texts between him and Ertz together with one other in what appears to be a gaggle chat featuring the three friends.
Watt wrote on Twitter: “can confirm. I feel this implies 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 twiddling with Zach and I. You’ll set the course record!”
Ertz then texted, “First hole green looks like a walk within the park.”
In a separate text to only Watt, Ertz wrote, “4 putt to start out 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.
Nonetheless, the text didn’t show to have an enduring effect on the 28-year-old Rahm, as he quickly recovered without skipping a beat to win his first green jacket.
After the primary round, he remained in the highest contender conversation, as he was tied with Norway’s Viktor Hovland and United States’ Brooks Koepka for first place.
Within the weather-delayed tournament, Rahm eventually rallied past Koepka in the rest of third round on Sunday, who was previously ahead with a four-shot lead on Rahm at 13-under par.
After the fourth hole within the fourth and final round, the 2 were tied at 10-under following Koepka’s bogey.
After Koepka bogeyed again on the sixth hole, Rahm kept the lead until the top. 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.
