Last Round for Larry Mize at The Masters

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 AUGUSTA, Ga.—The sky was low and gray, smeared by a cold rain that fell as lightly as a kitten but as relentlessly as a bulldog.

Only  a few hundred devoted fans braved the bone-chilling weather early on  this unusual Masters Saturday morning. They circled the 18th green to  watch the hometown kid, the one who hit the second-most memorable shot  in Masters history, play his last-ever strokes in this tournament.

Larry  Mize deserved a better stage for his farewell, or at least a warmer and  drier one. His last three shots, not that it matters, came on the  green. When he tapped in the third putt for an 80 of no significance,  there were shouts, some cheers and only muffled applause since it’s  remarkably difficult to clap while holding an umbrella.

Mize, the  1987 Masters winner who famously chipped in to stun Greg Norman in a  playoff, retrieved his ball and graciously shook hands with Min Woo Lee  and Australian amateur Harrison Crowe, his playing partners, and their  caddies.

Then, striding onto the middle of the green from under  the broadcast tower came Sandy Lyle, the 1988 Masters champion. Twenty  minutes earlier, he, too, had played the final stroke of his tournament  career. Both men had said before this week that this would be their last  Masters. Mize shot 79-80, Lyle posted 81-83; both missed the cut.

Lyle  had only a 12-foot putt remaining Friday evening when play was halted.  He returned early with just his putter to officially finish his round  and close out his major-championship career after spending the previous  night, he said, with “a lot of tequila and a bit of whiskey-tasting.” 

He  wore a big smile as he gave Mize an emotional and symbolic hug. There  was some light drizzle on their cheeks. That had to be it. What else  could it have been?

“Obviously, I know what’s going through his  mind,” Lyle said. “I just think it was the right thing to do. The wives  suggested it and I said, Yeah, I’m going to go back out there and  welcome him to a new era.”

Mize was genuinely surprised by Lyle’s appearance. And delighted. Add grateful, too.

“That  was incredible,” Mize said later, still slightly choked up by the  occasion. “For him to come out and greet me like that was very special. I  can’t believe he did that. I’ll thank Sandy for years to come.”

Mize  was met by his wife and assorted family members as he headed toward the  clubhouse. He also got a hug from tour player Russell Henley, a close  friend. Henley played with Fred Couples in a threesome two groups ahead  of Mize.

“I just said I loved him,” Henley said. “Living in  Columbus (Ga.) the last four years, he’s been a mentor and a father  figure for me,” said Henley, who grew up in Macon and played college  golf at Georgia. “Anything that goes on in my life, he’s been there to  chat with me about it. He’s somebody I look up to. So it was really cool  to sneak back there and watch his last hole.”

A last trip around  the course touched on so many memories. Mize worked as a volunteer  running the scoreboard at the third hole for two years when he was a  young teen. He admitted to glancing over at that board as he passed. “I  had some nice memories of 50 years ago when I was there,” Mize said. “It  was very special.”

The 11th hole was where Mize made history by  holing an unlikely 40-yard pitch shot to stun Norman. Seve Ballesteros  was also part of the playoff but three-putted the 10th hole and was  eliminated. Norman still had a 50-foot putt to tie Mize at 11 but  missed.

That chip is a shot Mize has been reminded of almost daily for the last 36 years. And gladly.

He  didn’t get the same flashbacks at 11. Perhaps because he was into his  round. And the green complex has been tinkered with, making a genuine  recreation of his famous shot impossible.

“I was 1 over at the  time, I’m not playing too bad, I was just trying to make 4 somehow,”  Mize said. “I was just trying to finish it off as best I could.”

At  the 16th green, he got an unpleasant surprise. He was near the bunker  on the green’s right side, lining up his putt, when several tall pines  suddenly crashed to the ground near the 17th tee.

“I was shocked,  scared,” Mize said. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, what was that? I was  talking to Patrick Reed in the locker room last night and he said, ‘I  can’t imagine what it was like for you because it was so loud, we could  hear it all the way over on 15.’ It’s just a miracle nobody got hurt.”

At  18, final walk up the final hole in his final Masters, wasn’t exactly  the way he—or anyone-envisioned it. The steady mist had turned to light  rain and those who checked closely could see their breath when they  exhaled.

In the cold rain, the 18th was barely a par 5 for young  players. It was definitely a par 5 for a 64-year-old. Mize could only  laugh when asked how he played it. “I hit a poor drive down the right, a  chunky 5-iron up the middle and then a thin 6-iron on the green,” he  said, grinning. “How was that? The ball’s going nowhere and I’m hitting  it short now, anyway.”

Mize said he wished he could have finished  Friday but in the next sentence said the Saturday morning finish in the  rain was also pretty cool. He didn’t expect so many people to be at the  green, he said. It was cold and wet and he arrived at the 18th green  barely half an hour after the Masters’ gates opened for fans at 8 a.m.

“To  get a reception like that in weather like this, I didn’t expect that,”  Mize said. “I didn’t expect that at all. It was something I’ll never  forget. I’m still living the dream at 64. For people to applaud me and  cheer me on, that means a lot.”

Because of Saturday morning’s  inclement weather, Mize told his family, “Y’all don’t have to come,” he  said, “but they said, No,we’re coming.”

He lived in Augusta when  he worked the Masters scoreboard as a teen but his family then moved to  Columbus, which is where Mize met his wife, Bonnnie. They have three  sons. So his family entourage at the course was not small. His life and  his career have been filled with accomplishments. He won three other PGA  Tour events, three titles in Japan and one PGA Tour Champions  tournament. He is remembered for only one victory, really, the one here  that mattered most.

“It’s amazing to win the Masters and to do it  in that fashion just enhanced it,” Mize said. “It’s hard to put into  words. It’s been a tremendous blessing. It changed my life for the  better, no doubt. The recognition I’ve gotten, it gave me and my family  opportunities to do things we wouldn’t have otherwise done.

“I  love this place. For a kid from Augusta, Georgia, this is the biggest  thing in golf. I have nothing but great memories and there will be more  to come.”

As he talked, an adorable grandson toddled over by his leg, looked up at him, giggled, and wandered away with Bonnie in pursuit.

More great memories to come for Larry Mize? Absolutely.  See  Larry Mize interview:  

https://youtu.be/svPytt73Zy8?si=AlWnmjXb_WYudeDs