Masters amateur Sam Bennett thinks he can win

AUGUSTA, GA. – Sam Bennett didn't like it when well-wishers told him he might shoot the lowest score of any amateur at the Masters. He thought he could win the whole tournament.

While complimentary of Augusta National Golf Club, he isn't that impressed with its difficulty, saying that Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey, where he won the U.S. Amateur, is tougher.

The Texas A&M senior doesn't mind, as an amateur, missing out on a potentially big payday this week, saying "NIL has been pretty good this year."

On Friday, the blunt and confident Bennett shot a 68 for the second consecutive round. After play was suspended in the afternoon because of threatening weather, he was in third place, as the only amateur on the leaderboard.

"I knew my golf was good enough to compete out here," he said. "I found myself in a situation that now I've got a golf tournament that I can go out and win."

Bennett's story is as compelling as his skills. His father died in 2021 after a long struggle with Alzheimer's. His advice to his son — "Don't wait to do something" — is tattooed on the inside of Sam's left forearm. He looks at the tattoo before every swing.

On his bag this week is his college coach, Brian Kortan. "There's an 'A' by Sam's name,' " Kortan said Friday afternoon. "But it won't be there much longer.

"He's been really tidy out there. Stacking good shots together and being tidy."

"Tidy" isn't often heard as a compliment on the PGA Tour, where swing speed and sheer distance dominate, but tidy Bennett has been. He didn't make a bogey Thursday, and made only one Friday.

His consecutive 68s are the lowest rounds in a major by an amateur since Viktor Hovland shot a 67 at the 2019 U.S. Open. Hovland is tied for fourth at 6 under, with eight holes remaining on his second round.

According to Golf Digest, Bennett is the first player since Jim Gallagher Jr., in 1991 to go bogey-free in his first round at the Masters, and he shot the lowest score in the first round by an amateur since Ken Venturi in 1956.

"Yeah, everybody coming into the week was like, yeah, hope you get low 'am,' " he said. "That's pretty much all they were saying."

Bennett dealt with depression after his father died. He has said that finding the right prescriptions and outlook helped him recover emotionally, even if he no longer feels the need to recount the story.

"It's a great story," he said. "I hear it every day. But I want to try and move on from this. I want to start talking about golf. I'm more than what's happened to me and what I've been through.

"I'm calm right now, and I'm calm when I'm on the course. Geez, I'm playing Augusta National. It can't get any better.''