When it comes to the seven amateurs teeing it up at Augusta National next week, there’s no shortage of star power.
There are numerous USGA champions and an NCAA champ. Winners of prestigious amateur events from around the world. For some, it’s their first time at the famed Masters tournament in what each hopes will be a long stretch of making the trek down Magnolia Lane every April.
The seven ams will compete for the title of low amateur. If they make the 36-hole cut, then they will battle for the Silver Cup. An amateur has never won the Masters, but the tournament has plenty of history involving ams, including the famed Crow’s Nest, the living space on the third floor of the Augusta National clubhouse, and the Monday night Amateur Dinner.
Here’s a look at the seven amateurs competing in the 2023 Masters.
Sam Bennett holds the Havemeyer trophy after winning the 2022 U.S. Amateur at The Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey. (Grant Halverson/USGA)
The 22-year-old from Madisonville, Texas, won the U.S. Amateur last summer at The Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey, beating Ben Carr 1 up. Bennett is a fifth-year senior at Texas A&M, where he shared medalist honors at the John Burns Collegiate and has five top-20 finishes in nine starts this season. He won 2022 SEC Golfer of the Year and represented the United States on the 2022 Arnold Palmer Cup team.
Ben Carr plays his tee shot on hole ten during the final match at the 2022 U.S. Amateur at The Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey. (Grant Halverson/USGA)
Carr reached the finals of the U.S. Amateur last summer in New Jersey, falling to Bennett on the final hole. The 22-year-old from Columbus, Georgia, has finished in the top 15 in six of his seven starts for Georgia Southern this year, including a win at the Schenkel Invitational and a runner-up at the Colleton River Collegiate.
Harrison Crowe of Australia plays his tee shot on the 9th hole during Day Three of the 2022 World Amateur Team Golf Championships – Eisenhower Trophy competition at Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Breteche on Sept. 2, 2022 in Paris, France. (Photo by Octavio Passos/Getty Images)
The 21-year-old Australian won the 2022 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at Amata Spring Country Club in Thailand, beating China’s Bo Jin by one stroke. He became the third champion from Australia in the event’s history, joining Antonio Murdaca and Curtis Luck. This year, he finished T-5 in the Australian Amateur and runner-up in the New South Wales Amateur.
Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira lifts the Latin America Amateur Championship trophy at the beach alongside The Open trophy, The Masters trophy and the US Open trophy following the Final Round of the 2023 Latin America Amateur Championship being played at the Grand Reserve Golf Club in Puerto Rico on Sunday, January 15, 2023. (Photo: LAAC)
The 23-year-old senior at Arkansas started his year off great, winning the Latin America Amateur Championship to punch his ticket to Augusta National. He broke a tournament record, finishing at 23-under par. He also went 4-0-0 representing the International team in the Arnold Palmer Cup in Switzerland. For the Razorbacks, he has one win at the Hal Williams Collegiate and six top-20 finishes in eight starts.
Matthew McClean holds up the trophy after winning the 2022 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Erin Hills in Erin, Wisconsin. (Photo: Steven Gibbons/USGA)
McClean, a 29-year-old from Belfast, Northern Ireland, won the 2022 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Erin Hills with a 3-and-1 victory against Hugh Foley. He’s an optometrist when he’s not golfing. Last year, he also finished runner-up in the North of Ireland and Irish Amateur Opens. He also reached the Round of 16 at The Amateur Championship at Royal Lytham and St Annes in England.
Aldrich Potgieter of South Africa pictured after winning the R&A Amateur Championship during the Final of day six of the R&A Amateur Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes on June 18, 2022, in Lytham St Annes, England. (Photo by Matthew Lewis/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)
The 18-year-old Potgieter, from South Africa, won the 2022 Amateur Championship at Royal Lytham and St Annes in England with a 3-and-2 victory against Sam Bairstow. He became the second youngest to ever win the championship. He also competed in the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews. In February, he captured the African Amateur Stroke Play Championship in South Africa before winning the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley in South Carolina in March.
Gordon Sargent won The Hayt. (Photo: Vanderbilt Men’s Golf)
Sargent, No. 1 in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings for men’s college golf, became the first freshman since 2007 to win the NCAA individual championship when he claimed the trophy at Grayhawk Golf Club last year. He rose to No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for the first time in February and is the first amateur to receive a special invitation to the Masters since Aaron Baddeley in 2000. The sophomore at Vanderbilt has two wins and eight top-10 finishes in eight starts this season.
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