AUGUSTA, Ga. – Sam Bennett didn’t say if he was keeping receipts, but he didn’t have to.
The swaggy Texas A&M senior has felt disrespected before. Left off watch lists. Not considered a favorite prior to winning the U.S. Amateur. Even earlier this week at Augusta National Golf Club, where he’d been overshadowed by Vanderbilt’s jaw-dropping sophomore Gordon Sargent.
Full-field scores from the 87th Masters Tournament
“Yeah,” Bennett said Friday, “I don’t hit it far like Sargent. I don’t have 190 ball speed. I don’t have a pretty swing like some of the other amateurs. It’s golf, not a golf swing. I’ve done the right things this week. I was prepared. I was more experienced than the other guys, and yeah, here I sit here with a chance to go on the weekend and do something special.”
He’s the only amateur who can.
Of the seven amateurs in this year’s Masters field, Bennett is the only one likely to make the cut. When play was suspended for inclement weather on Friday afternoon, Harrison Crowe and Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira were each 5 over, three shots off the cut line with three and six holes remaining, respectively.
It’s very possible Bennett begins his third round with low-amateur honors already locked up. But at 8 under after back-to-back rounds of 68, Bennett has a green jacket in his crosshairs, just four shots back of Brooks Koepka’s leading 12 under.
Asked why he believes he can take down Koepka and Co., Bennett said, confidently: “Because I know that my good golf is good enough.”
Bennett has been longer than just a dozen players so far in this tournament, half of them being of Champions Tour age. But in this era of distance gains and MLR proposals, Bennett has proven that the long ball isn’t everything. For the second straight round, Bennett started with a birdie, holing a 14-footer for his first of five on Friday. Through 36 holes, he’s carded just one bogey, too.
The only thing Bennett can’t do this week is collect a check.
Bennett laughed when told that last year’s Masters runner-up pocketed $1.6 million. “I don’t know, NIL has been pretty good this year,” he said with a big grin.
The 23-year-old Bennett, who finished just a stroke shy of Ken Venturi’s 36-hole amateur record, will play for pay soon enough. He’s in no rush, as evidenced by his somewhat shocking decision to return for a fifth year despite having a Korn Ferry Tour card waiting for him last summer. Bennett loves college golf so much, in fact, that he declined several PGA Tour invitations this season (all but the Masters). He also mentioned the possibility of playing in the Aggies’ home event, which begins Monday, though the weather this weekend in Augusta could alter those plans.
The classwork might be the only aspect of pre-professional life that Bennett doesn’t enjoy.
“I’m not worried about school right now,” Bennett said.
Bennett admitted to nerves on the first tee Thursday, and again in Butler Cabin on Friday while being interviewed by ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt. But otherwise, he’s felt more than comfortable.
Perhaps that feeling comes from having Texas A&M head coach Brian Kortan, Bennett’s “second dad,” on the bag, or Bennett’s mom, brother and sister-in-law, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and several friends from smalltown Madisonville, Texas, all in attendance.
But that maturity is also largely due to Bennett’s background. Two summers ago, Bennett’s father, Mark, died after a battle with early onset Alzheimer’s. Bennett has faced countless questions about his dad and the tattoo he had inked on his left forearm with the saying, written in his father’s handwriting, Don’t wait to do something. And Bennett, at times, has been bothered by the numerous inquiries and requests.
“I think I’ve talked about that enough,” Bennett said when asked by a local TV reporter about his dad on Thursday, just a few days after Golf Channel released an emotional feature on Bennett.
A day later, Bennett fielded similar questions, though on this occasion, as he sat in the Press Building’s elegant interview room, he revealed how many people have reached out to him on social media after hearing his story, some even sharing that it’s helped them deal with their loved ones who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. The words of encouragement came flowing in Thursday night until Bennett turned his notifications off – at midnight, needing to get some rest.
But Bennett also explained that he was ready for a new chapter to be written.
“It’s been talked about for a while and you know, it’s a great story, I hear it every day, but I want to try and move on from this,” Bennett said. “And it’s a good story, great, incredible, but I want to start talking about golf, and you know, I’m more than what’s happened to me and what I’ve been through.”
Bennett owns five career college victories.
He’s played in four professional events prior to this week, including last summer’s U.S. Open, where he made the cut.
And he captured the Havemeyer Trophy last August.
While that all sounds impressive – and it is – the stage, at least in this sport, doesn’t get any bigger than the Masters. Bennett keeps his shiny, golden U.S. Amateur prize in his living room, and now he’ll add at least a silver cup to that collection while keeping alive the chance to become the first amateur to win the Masters.
But a green jacket? Well, that would be quite the story.
Bennett’s name currently is displayed on every one of the big, white scoreboards around Augusta National, right below Koepka and Jon Rahm, who is 9 under with nine holes to play in his second round. And the college student hasn’t shied away from looking at them either.
“I’m at Augusta National, a dream come true, playing as an amateur, seeing my name all there with the red numbers, the big scoreboards, they are huge,” Bennett said. “… I was just kind of soaking it all in.”
Everyone else has noticed, too.
And if anyone has ignored Bennett in the past, they can’t anymore.
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