It was a wild first round at the Masters yesterday.
Brooks Koepka, Viktor Hovland, and Jon Rahm lit up Augusta National, as they all shot seven under par.
However, perhaps the best story of the day was Sam Bennett, the Texas A&M star golfer who got into the Masters after winning the 2022 U.S. Amateur.
The 23-year-old fired an impressive four under par 68, becoming the first amateur to crack the top-10 in the first round of the Masters since Ryan Moore back in 2005.
And on top of that, everybody watching Bennett’s impressive round couldn’t help but notice the tattoo on his arm.
It reads:
“‘Don’t wait to do something’ -Pops 6/12/2020”
From the outside, it appears to be just a scribbled reminder from his dad, but there’s actually a much deeper, heartbreaking yet also inspiring story behind it.
Bennett discussed in an interview with Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner that the message was the last words his father told him before he passed away from early onset Alzheimer’s back in June of 2021.
He told Lavner:
“I was just mad, seeing my perfectly healthy dad get diagnosed with a deadly disease. I was just like ‘why him? Why not someone else?’”
He also talked about how he would have to go on late night walks, and call coaches at 5 AM to cope with the thoughts of his father weighing on his brain.
But as his dad’s health continued to decline, he asked his father to write down one last message for him, and he wrote:
“Don’t wait to do something.”
As heartbreaking as the story is, the message has obviously played a major part in his golf success so far.
Needless to say, we’re all rooting for the guy.
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