LIV Golf was ready to celebrate Brooks Koepka, but meltdown gives Masters title to Jon Rahm

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Brooks Koepka not only was playing for his legacy — proving health was all that held him back the last two years and getting one step closer toward the career Grand Slam — but for an entire tour.

Maybe an entire country, one whose riches he opted for last summer over sticking with the PGA Tour.

Koepka's stroll around Augusta National the first three days was shaping up as a big win for LIV Golf, which has not had much to celebrate since its inaugural season concluded in October.

A disappointing haul of PGA Tour players during the offseason. Mounting legal losses. An underwhelming television deal.

Greg Norman's Saudi-financed league needed a boost and appeared to be receiving a huge one from one of its highest profile clients, the four-time major winner from Jupiter.

But after Koepka's meltdown over the final 30 holes, who would have thought LIV's oldest competitor, the player that put the breakaway league on the map, but also one whose game had slid like it hit an oil slick, would give it a jolt.

Phil Mickelson has not finished better than 27th in any of LIV's three events this year. And in a field even one of its own (Cameron Smith) admitted is not as strong as the PGA Tour's, he was 34th in the 2022 player standings.

But Mickelson rekindled the magic from his last shining moment on the PGA Tour, the 2021 PGA Championship, when he became the oldest golfer to win a major.

Now, 52, Mickelson made a charge that was good enough to catch LIV teammate Koepka, but not good enough to scare Jon Rahm, the Spaniard who played a steady, yet unspectacular final round to secure his second major and first Masters.

Rahm's final round 69 led to a 12-under, four shots better than Koepka, who finally straightened out his game with birdies on No. 15 and 16, and Mickelson. But by then it was too late for Koepka who had fallen five shots behind the newest member of the Green Jacket club.

Koepka shot a final round 75 to finish 8-under. He could have given LIV its biggest victory since it upended the golf world a little less than a year ago. All the champagne celebrations would have paled to the party Norman would have thrown at the Saudis' expense had Koepka pulled this off.

"It's super disappointing. Didn't play good enough to win," Koepka said. "Just some days you have it, some days you don't. And today wasn't one of those."

But Koepka's Sunday lead at the Masters disappeared (something he and Norman can trade notes on) in a spot he is unaccustomed to since joining LIV — the fourth round of a golf tournament.

Koepka started on the No. 7 green Sunday after play was halted Saturday during the third round. He was 13-under, four shots ahead of Rahm.

A two-shot swing on the seventh green was a sign of things to come. When the round ended Koepka led Rahm by two shots but the unraveling continued.

Rahm got within one with a birdie on No. 3. When Koepka bogeyed the fourth the two heavyweights were tied.

Rahm took the outright lead with a Koepka bogey on No. 6, a two-shot lead with a birdie on No. 8, a three-shot lead after Koepka's fourth bogey of the round and put away Koepka on the 14th with a birdie and another Koepka bogey.

At that point, Rahm had gained nine strokes on Koepka in 26 holes. Koepka started the tournament with one bogey in his first 42 holes. He finished it with nine more.

Koepka said it will take some time to get over the sting of losing.

"Give it a week and I'll start to see some positives out of it and carry it over to the (other majors)," he said. "Right now, it's tough to see those positives."

Koepka has played enough golf, won enough tournaments, including two U.S. Opens and two PGA Championships, to suggest playing in LIV's 54-hole events had anything to do with his poor play Sunday. Besides, Mickelson's best round of the weekend was by far Sunday. Mickelson had not shot a 65 at Augusta National in 28 years.

"I think that's just manufactured by the media that we can't compete anymore; that we are washed up," Koepka said.

Another certain LIV talking point as we move forward will be the play of Patrick Reed, whose final round 68 put him in a tie for fourth.

"I'm very appreciative that we're here, that we are able to play in the majors," Mickelson said. "And I thought it was exciting that this tournament rose above it all to have the best players in the world here and lost all the pettiness. That was great."

But it was Koepka who carried the weight of the PGA Tour's rival league and could not hold on. Still, the 32-year-old has proven he's getting close to the man who once was the most feared golfer on the planet when it came to tournaments like the Masters and all the other majors.

Koepka had it all going until the wind and rain and cold forced officials to suspend play Saturday. His ball was on the seventh green and he expressed relief that he did not have to putt the 11-footer for par.

The layoff didn't help. Koepka missed the putt, signaling the beginning of the end. While Koepka's putting failed him, he really struggled off the tee.

Rahm, 28, breezed through the final round. His only hiccup was a bogey on No. 10, a hole Koepka also bogeyed.

The thought that he would spend the rest of his life walking into the champions locker room at Augusta National must have hit Rahm on the 14th when the lead ballooned to five on Koepka and four on Mickelson.

"My objective today is to focus on my own game and what I can control," Rahm said after completing his third round in the morning.

"Whatever Brooks does is whatever Brooks does."

Brooks didn't do enough.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Brooks Koepka was poised to win first Masters but collapsed to Jon Rahm