AUGUSTA -- Jon Rahm had heard the same from several different categories of professional golfers.
Past Masters Tournament champions, ones with the Masters and some other major titles under their belts, ones that had won the other majors but who hadn't won a green jacket.
They all agreed that there's just something different about a win at Augusta National Golf Club than anywhere else.
After last year's win, Rahm can add his name to those who share that sentiment.
"It is the biggest tournament in the world, with no offense to anything else, but it's probably the most followed one by people that don't even play golf. That's I think what makes the difference," said Rahm, whose title defense begins Thursday. "Your notoriety goes up quite a bit. But it's also the tradition. By being the only venue, we keep coming back year after year, all the traditions, all the shots, all the stories make it so, so special."
Rahm, currently the third-ranked player in the world, had reason for last year's win to be even more special. Winning on Easter, on the birthday of late Spanish golfing icon Seve Ballesteros, on the sixth anniversary of fellow Spaniard Sergio Garcia finally winning his first major at Augusta National, with countryman Jose Maria Olazabal standing behind the 18th green waiting for a victorious Rahm - not to mention holding his son in his arms as he hugged his dad afterward - all added up to make it an indescribable feeling.
He understands that that's in the past, and the world's best players are ready to hit the course Thursday looking to slip on a green jacket of their own.
Rahm is considered one of the favorites, even if the former top-ranked player in the world hasn't been nearly as visible since joining LIV Golf. He's spent just as much time answering questions about his move as he has been playing golf since then, and Tuesday he was asked if he felt like he was being looked at as a Masters champion or a LIV golfer.
"From what I've experienced so far, as a Masters champion, yeah," he responded.
Rahm hasn't played in an event that counts toward the Official World Golf Ranking since November's DP World Tour Championship, as the five LIV Golf events he's appeared in don't carry any points. He's been playing less frequently than in previous years at this time, but he's not necessarily looking at that like it's a bad thing.
"If anything, for the - if I would go based on how I feel today on a Tuesday, I feel physically better than I did last year," Rahm said of the rest vs. rust debate. "But then once competition starts, it doesn't really matter. Once the gun goes off, whatever you feel is out the window; you got to go out there and post a score. So it wouldn't be the first time. ... So it's not something that I have in mind, but I do feel - I do feel fresh and ready for it."
Last Sunday, Rahm was part of a victory celebration with his Legion XIII teammates in Miami, and he said he wouldn't have felt like celebrating in the past because he wasn't pleased with how he played. He admitted that part of his new tour is fun, but this week is obviously different.
A different celebration is in order if he wins, especially if it's to become only the fourth player (joining Jack Nicklaus in 1965-66, Nick Faldo in 89-90 and Tiger Woods in 2001-02) to go back-to-back at the Masters.
The green jacket has spent the last year in his closet in a spot where he would walk by it every day and, every once in a while, he'd take it off the hanger to put it on again. He wore it when he threw out the first pitch of Game 4 of the World Series, which he said is his most memorable moment with the jacket.
Now he'll try to win it again. If he doesn't, he said he'll probably regret not wearing it everywhere for no other reason than it was his. If he does, he will further etch his name onto the Masters Trophy and into the record books.
"I think it's something really special to know, when you win, that the only jacket that ever leaves Augusta National is that one," he said. "I think that's the most special part of all. So, it's a little bit - is it added motivation? No, because you still - I mean, winning is winning, right. But it would be quite special to be one of the few players that have won it more than once and be able to have it at home for more than one year."
