Jon Rahm had words of wisdom from two Spanish golf greats on his mind as he posted a 69 on day one of the 2020 Masters Tournament.
The World Number Two got people talking ahead of the final Major Championship of the year when he followed up a hole-in-one at the fourth during practice on Monday with another ace on the 16th on Tuesday - his 26th birthday - having first skimmed the ball across the pond.
And the Spaniard made a solid start to the tournament, mixing an eagle with four birdies and three bogeys to sit four shots behind early leader Paul Casey.
In a post round interview, Rahm repeated something two time Masters Champion and compatriot Seve Ballesteros used to say about Augusta National Golf Club, while earlier in the week he spent time getting advice from fellow Spaniard José María Olazábal.
He said: "I think it's one of those golf courses that extremely suits feel players.
"They don't allow green books and things like that. So when you're someone like me who basically just trusts his instincts pretty much every single week, I feel like you have the upper hand here.
"Seve used to say 'You play Augusta National on your fingertips, you feel it in your hands'. And that's kind of how I try to treat it because you never have a flat lie, you always have some type of movement on the fairway and a lot of visually different shots so it's what I think makes me like it so much and why I've played good in the past."
Rahm took his chance to pick the brain of Olazábal, who like Ballesteros has won two Masters titles, on Tuesday and is looking forward to putting the short game tips he picked up into practice in future events.
He added: "Well not being in Spain, I don't get the chance to ask that many questions.
"And being such a big fan of his and Seve, and knowing how much of his short game he developed from Seve, I just wanted to ask a few questions on some things I was struggling with.
"When you go in the bunker and you see somebody not even open the clubface and hit the shots he was hitting, there's something special there.
"The main reason why I asked is because we both have a really weak left hand and our grip is weak so I figured his motion would be something that would fit me very well.
"It's nothing really that I'm putting in practice right now because it's a little too late.
"But something I can work on to improve, and I definitely saw some things when I was working with him that could improve my wedge game and my short game a lot.
"So I'm looking forward to it."
