The 520-yard 11th
Rahm has made just four birdies there in his 36 rounds, none in his last 27 trips going into Thursday’s opening round. He has a career average of 4.06 on the hole.
“I’ve played good in the past,” he said of the 11th. “You get to the tee, you hit driver as hard as you possibly can. I think we all have a very similar strategy. We all aim basically at the right edge of the back bunker, try to hit on that middle third of the green on the wider side.
“If you happen to pull a little bit, you have plenty of room to hopefully miss it on the green. Then if you miss right, you can always try to get up-and-down and at worst make a 5.
“I don’t think I’ve ever gone flag-hunting to any pin that is on the left side unless it was a year when it was downwind and you find yourself with a short iron where you can actually be aggressive. Most of the time, it’s 6-, 5-, 4-iron, and you’re just hoping to hit the green.”
The 155-yard 12th
Rahm has made par in his last 10 rounds, and 18 of his last 20. He’s made two double-bogeys there – one in his Masters debut in 2017 and another in the final round in 2020 when the Masters was played in November during the Covid year. He has a career average of 3.11 on the hole.
“No. 1, be on land,” Rahm explained. “No. 2, hopefully it’s on the green. If not, let’s try to make it up-and-down.
“I think early on in my first years in the Masters, I tried to be more aggressive than I needed to. Now it’s hit the middle of the green, two-putt, move on. It’s pretty simple. I’m pretty confident when I say I’m over-par on that hole.”
The 545-yard 13th
Rahm’s 15 career birdies match his most on any hole at Augusta National, but he has just two birdies in his last eight rounds. In 2024, he made four pars, the only time he’s played the Masters without making at least one birdie at the 13th. He’s made just two bogeys there – one of those coming in the third round in 2023, the day before winning the Masters; that was also the first year after the hole was lengthened by 35 yards. His two career eagles on the hole came in 2017 (final round) and 2019 (third round). He has a career average of 4.53.
“Being a par 5, obviously you want to start off with a good tee shot,” Rahm said. “Obviously a lot more challenging now with the distance to give yourself the right shot into the green. What a lot of people don’t know with this added number is even if you hit a draw down the left, if you don’t hit it far enough, those tree branches are still in your way. So, you can’t really go for it as you hit a big draw into not the widest green.
“If you’re drawing it too much right to left, if you land it in the middle, you can still miss the green left, and it just becomes a tricky shot. … [Just] try to be aggressive off the tee. If not, you can still leave yourself a wedge shot to try and make a birdie.”