Could Bennett be the first amateur to win the Masters?

AUGUSTA, Ga. —  “Yeah,” Sam Bennett’s pals told him. “Hope you get low amateur. That’s pretty much all they were saying.” Because there wasn’t much more they could say.

Sure, they could have suggested he could make history. Fulfill a wish of the man who founded the Masters, Bobby Jones, do the unprecedented if not the impossible, and give the Masters an amateur winner.  But let’s be realistic.    

Golf, especially the major at the championships, belongs to the pros, to the men who have spent years of practice and competition earning their niche.  

So even though Bennett, 23, a senior at Texas A&M and the U.S. Amateur champion, was 8-under par and temporarily in third place when Friday’s second round came to a jolting suspension because of falling pine trees and falling rain, he’s not going to finish on top. 

Not with three-time major winner Brooks Koepka in first place and likely to stay there. Not with the sad tale of Ken Venturi being retold every time an amateur works his way up the Masters’ leaderboard.

“I haven’t played great this college season,” said Bennett, who shot 68-68—136 (Koepka was 132) and was efficient if not great in his first rounds of his first Masters. 

“I don’t have a pretty swing like some of the other amateurs. But it’s golf, not a golf swing (that counts).” 

Venturi had one of the prettiest swings ever. He grew up playing Harding Park in San Francisco and after time at San Jose State and the U.S. Army had developed into arguably the best golfer in the U.S., pro or amateur.

Three rounds into the 1956 Masters, Venturi was four shots ahead. Oh, the excitement. Oh, the disappointment. Venturi finished with an 80 and in second by a shot to Jackie Burke Jr.  

In those days Bay Area writers didn’t travel. When he arrived home Venturi, who was swarmed by reporters from what then were a half-dozen reporters, was asked what went wrong.

Years later Venturi told Golf Digest his mistake was trying to 2-putt every green. But originally there was the contention that playing partner Sam Snead had, contrary to accepted golf etiquette, intentionally rattled Venturi. It sounded like an excuse, which it wasn’t meant to be. 

Venturi went on to win the 1964 U.S. Open and had a fine career as a broadcaster for CBS. And has come as close to finishing first in the Masters as any amateur.

That’s not to dissuade Bennett from continuing to try. The guy has plenty of desire, and just incidentally a few tattoos, including words of advice from his late father. “One on my left arm,” Bennett explained. “I see it every time I grip a club. It’s right there, ‘Don’t wait to do something.’” 

The golf world has waited the tournament’s entire 87 years for an amateur to win the Masters. You have to be patient, but isn’t there a limit?

“Everything I’ve done in my golf career, playing in these big tournaments,” said Bennett. “has led me to succeed this week and leading forward.”

Nothing wrong with that attitude.