AUGUSTA, Ga. — With warm applause at the 18th green on a rainy morning, the Masters career of Larry Mize reached its completion Saturday. The Georgia Tech grad and the only Augusta native to ever win the Masters, Mize played his final competitive round at Augusta National after announcing that this year’s tournament, his 40th in a row, would be his last.
“It’s just unbelievable, surreal,” Mize said. “Words don’t do it justice to have won here and played here for 40 years. Pretty incredible.”
Mize, whose holed chip from off the 11th green to win the 1987 Masters in a playoff remains perhaps the most memorable shot in tournament history, was 12 strokes off the cut at 15 over for the two rounds. He was second to last among the 85 players to finish the first two rounds. The 64-year-old finished five shots ahead of another former Masters champ, Sandy Lyle, who also announced that this will be his final Masters as a competitor.
The 65-year-old Lyle, who won the 1988 Masters the year after Mize, also finished Saturday morning after play was suspended Friday afternoon due to weather. Lyle waited for Mize at the 18th green, offering him a tissue and a hug.
“I just think it was the right thing to do,” Lyle said. “The wives suggested it and I thought about it and said, ‘Yeah, I’m going to go back out there and welcome him to a new era.’ ”
“That was very special for Sandy to come out and greet me there,” Mize said. “Sandy’s a good friend, a great champion, and to finish off with him is pretty cool.”
Also waiting was former Georgia Bulldog Russell Henley, who lives in Columbus as does Mize. Henley, who also finished his second round in the morning, called him a father figure.
“I just said I loved him,” Henley said. “That was awesome. Forty years, it’s so cool.”
With his local connection and his memorable championship, Mize has been a gallery favorite over the years, allowed to continue play thanks to the tournament’s unique policy of offering lifetime exemptions to all past champions. He last made the cut in 2017.
Playing his last on a Saturday morning, with rain pelting the gallery, was different.
“The fans were great,” said Mize, as his wife Bonnie held an umbrella over him while he spoke with media. “To get a reception like that and weather like this, I didn’t expect that. I didn’t expect that at all.”
As he completed his final round, Mize took a moment to glance at the scoreboard on the third hole, which he had worked for two tournaments as an Augusta teenager. At the 11th hole, site of his famed chip to defeat Greg Norman, his mind stayed in the present. For one thing, the contour of the hole has changed significantly and bears little resemblance to its 1987 look.
“I was just trying to make 4 somehow,” said Mize, who did have a shot from off the green for birdie but bogeyed the hole.
Mize was the lone former Yellow Jacket in the field this year. Former Tech stars such as Stewart Cink and Matt Kuchar were unable to secure invites. Kuchar was 51st in last week’s Official World Golf Ranking, one spot out of an invitation.
“We’ll get them back,” Mize said. “There will be some good players coming out, but definitely need to get some back.”
Mize plans to continue to play on the Champions Tour, though he is hampered by an ailing back. He played six events last year but has yet to play this season. As he looked back, Mize said that winning the Masters had provided him and his family opportunities they wouldn’t have had otherwise.
“I mean, it’s amazing to win the Masters and then to do it in that fashion kind of just enhanced it,” Mize said. “It’s hard to put into words. It’s been a tremendous blessing to have won here. It has changed my life for the better, no doubt.”
