Augusta, Texas

By Doug Stutsman

Augusta, Texas, goes inside the ropes and into the lives of the ten Masters Champions from the Lone Star State. From Ben Hogan to Ben Crenshaw to Jordan Spieth, Doug Stutsman has uncovered intimate details about how Texans have shaped the history of golf’s most coveted major championship. 

At the 1958 Masters Tournament, a bridge dedication ceremony was held to honor Hogan and his childhood rival, Byron Nelson. Augusta National co-founder Bobby Jones served as master of ceremonies, and although his health left him unable to rise, Jones announced, “We’ve tried to dedicate these bridges to two men who have meant as much to this tournament as any two men ever have.”

 

Nelson was the first Texan to taste triumph at the fourth annual Masters, while nine others—most recently Scottie Scheffler in 2022—have followed the trail that Lord Byron paved. 

 

Ten winners; fifteen jackets. More than any other state. More than any foreign country.

 

Moments after capturing the 1984 Masters, Ben Crenshaw called Brent “Bubs” Buckman, his roommate from the University of Texas.“What was that like?” Buckman asked. “Walking up eighteen, knowing you had won the Masters.”

 

“Bubs,” Crenshaw said. “The hair on the back of my neck stood straight up.”

 

Nearly forty years later, Stutsman asked Crenshaw to reflect on his first win at Augusta National.

 

“The hair on my neck is still standing straight up,” Gentle Ben said.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Outskirts Press
• Release date: Apr 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9781977209450

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Augusta, Texas

All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2023 Doug Stutsman

v6.0

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PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

For Texas.

Was Jimmy a man of faith? Did he practice religion? Yes, most certainly. Oh, he never went to church, but he lived the essence of Christianity. He loved his neighbor.

—Father Larry Connelly at Jimmy Demaret’s memorial service on January 6, 1984.

Masters Champions from the Lone Star State

Byron Nelson — 1937, 1942

Ralph Guldahl — 1939

Jimmy Demaret — 1940, 1947, 1950

Ben Hogan — 1951, 1953

Jackie Burke, Jr. — 1956

Charles Coody — 1971

Ben Crenshaw — 1984, 1995

Jordan Spieth — 2015

Patrick Reed — 2018

Scottie Scheffler — 2022

Table of Contents

Introduction

One: Nelson

Two: Nelson/Hogan

Three: Demaret

Four: Demaret

Five: Crenshaw

Six: Crenshaw

Seven: Crenshaw

Eight: Crenshaw

Nine: Tom Kite

Ten: Burke, Jr.

Eleven: Burke, Jr.

Twelve: Hogan

Thirteen: Hogan

Fourteen: Coody

Fifteen: Guldahl

Sixteen: Spieth

Seventeen: Spieth

Eighteen: Spieth/Crenshaw

Nineteen: Reed

Conclusion: Crenshaw/Spieth

Epilogue: Spieth

Introduction

John Fields jabbed into a link of Texas barbecue sausage as Turnpike Troubadours echoed through U.T. Golf Club.

Off with a girl. Off to the city.

Off on a wing and a chance.

It was June 2022 and the Texas golf coach was nursing three hours of sleep. He had spent the day prior at Naperville Country Club, walked thirty-six at the Western Junior Amateur, and after four resets at Chicago O’Hare International the wheels met Austin at 2:30 a.m.

I lost half a life on Southwest Airlines, said Fields, sipping Diet Coke from styrofoam.

Fields combed his black iPhone and slid it my direction. The coach had mentioned his boss, athletic director Chris Del Conte, and how the A.D. coined the phrase brand enhancing for U.T. golfers. Five days earlier, rising senior Travis Vick had finished Low Amateur at the United States Open in Brookline, Massachusetts. Two months earlier Jordan Spieth captured the R.B.C. Heritage in Hilton Head. A week before Jordan, Scottie Scheffler became the tenth Masters Champion from the Lone Star State.

He calls it brand enhancing because there’s no financial aspect attached to it, Fields explained. I say that’s true, but if you were paying for that type of marketing there is a value attached.

Andy, our waiter, replenished the Diet Coke and told Fields to choose a side. Your friend got mac-and-cheese. Want some too, Coach?

Just more sausage, Fields said.

I thought back to my last encounter with Fields. It was April 2, 2022, when I left the Press Building at Augusta National Golf Club to watch Texas compete across town. As the round concluded, I walked with Fields toward a flight of stairs at Forest Hills Golf Course and asked about Scottie Scheffler. In eight days Scottie would leave Augusta in green, but this was April 2 and the focus remained on his elevation to World No. 1. Did you see this coming? I asked.

Scottie had spent four years in Austin with his best on-course results coming freshman year. He went back-to-back at the Western Intercollegiate and Big 12 Championship and clipped par twenty-one times. Then his trophy case famined for three seasons.

When Scheffler arrived at Texas in 2014 he moved into a six-bedroom house on Willbert Road, one mile west of campus. The fall semester proved arduous, as the lanky, loathes-to-lose teen admitted to feeling lost as he balanced school with homesickness and a split with Meredith Scudder. His parents, Diane and Scott, fretted that Scottie hadn’t been accepted into the McCombs School of Business.

The McCombs School of Business … we’ll get there in a minute.

Scottie’s first collegiate event was at Olympia Fields, where he shot seventy-eight, seventy-one, seventy-nine, and Texas finished fourteenth of fifteen teams, edging the University of Connecticut by a stroke. But that was September, and by late April, Scottie was foreshadowing glimpses of rapid elevation.

Texas listed a starting five of two freshmen (Scottie, Doug Ghim), two sophomores (Gavin Hall, Beau Hossler), and senior Kramer Hickok. The rudimentary Longhorns began the year ranked thirteenth but climbed to No. 2 by April. At the 2015 Big 12 Championship at Southern Hills, forty-four of forty-five competitors finished above par, while Scottie left Tulsa with hardware and ranked the layout the finest he had ever played.

Scheffler and Gavin Hall moved from Willbert Road that summer into a two bedroom apartment at The Quarters on West Campus. Gavin, a New Yorker, qualified for the U.S. Open as a high school senior and shared Scottie’s passion for hoops. They lettered in high school, and during the recruiting process, Fields commissioned a court to be built behind the U.T. Golf Club performance center. Hall switched his commitment from UCLA; Scottie pledged to Austin over Stanford.

Gavin admired Scottie’s ability to elevate, whether it be golf, ping-pong, or basketball, while envying how the Highland Park kid could flip when home. I have a hard time parking it on the couch but Scottie could go on a run. We’re talking four, five hours, Gavin Hall said. I was always amazed by that. Envious how he could totally shut it down for an entire afternoon. The game can consume you, and I had a hard time turning it off. Scottie didn’t.

Scheffler, a rising sophomore, spent the summer of 2015 grinding in the Dallas heat-box with envisions of the United States Amateur. Then, on August 17, 2015, the foundation crumbled. Scottie birdied the par-five opening hole, but as he walked toward the second tee, the Chicago skies opened, temperature dipped, and his six-foot three-inch frame seized. He shot seventy-nine, seventy-three, missed advancing to match-play by nine and mangled his back in the process.

Weeks became months and the injury wouldn’t heal. Pain that centralized in the back had migrated into the hips, and Scottie had digressed from U.T.’s line two as a freshman to fourth the following spring. And still, three semesters into college, he was without an academic major.

The McCombs School of Business … we’ll get there in a minute.

Eighteen months crawled by, but near the end of Scottie’s junior season, the spine unlocked. The hips freed. And wearing a navy hat with the State of Texas flag center-stitched, Scottie needed four playoff holes at sectional qualifying in Westerville, Ohio, to advance to the 2017 United States Open. And that’s when Coach Fields, standing at the Augusta University Invitational, answered the question: Did you see this coming?

Fields thought in silence as he grazed a palm over his white mustache. He brought up June 14, 2017. It was Tuesday’s practice round at Erin Hills and the coach and his wife, Pearl, had been invited by the Scheffler family. On the par-five seventh, located near the center of the Wisconsin design, Fields and Scott Scheffler marched the fescue as Scottie played a friendly with defending champion Dustin Johnson.

The previous two years had tested Scottie’s resolve, his patience, and gifted a regular taste of defeat. It had been twenty-six months since his last individual victory (outside of a one-day event at East Lake), while an NCAA team title would forever elude him.

Reality may not have sunk in for Scottie but it was weighing on Scott, who asked Fields, Do you think he’ll make it out here?

The coach peered away from the father, locking in on Scottie and Dustin. Fields focused on the amateur’s demeanor, the calmness of his strides. Then he sized up Scottie’s physique. Dustin was an inch taller with a man’s beard and bulging chest, but Scottie looked the part. Fields told Scott, Look at him walk down that fairway with Dustin. He fits out here. He’ll have a career.

Reese Rowling’s name is etched in block letters above Gate 28-A at Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium.

Reese was a hard-luck geologist, a 1951 graduate of Texas College of Mines and Metallurgy, and claimed the energy business was America’s last treasure hunt. Prior to logging a well, Reece would pull his son tight, posing for a photo with Robert. This is our last poor day, the father told his son as the camera clicked.

In 1983, the energy business spiraled. Tana Oil & Gas, the Rowling’s small independent, was spinning four-thousand rigs but withered to a thousand in six months. Tana Oil had leased a prospect in Hidalgo County, a wedge from the Mexico border, that Robert swore fruitful. But after touting the property two-dozen times, no corporation bit. The lease neared expiration when Robert obligated seventeen wells with hopes of covering cost. Instead, black gold spilt from the dirt, and six years later, the now massive independent wanted out at $300 million.

Texaco Corporation offered half a billion.

As an apt businessman, Robert Rowling was advised to acquire three Lone Star traits: Dance a two-step. Aim a shotgun. Hit a golf ball. Bob became respectable at each, and after reinvesting oil profits into Omni Hotels, Augusta National Golf Club eventually noticed.

Scottie made three trips to Augusta during his time at Texas. The first came February 2016, a biting Georgia day, when Coach Fields turned heads when he flashed his bound composition notebook. Sure, the team was accustomed to qualifiers at U.T. Golf Club, Spanish Oaks, Austin Country Club, and The Canyons at Barton Creek, but now, as Fields flipped to an open page, they’d have two qualifying rounds at Augusta National.

Texas returned in February 2017 for a one-day trip. The team awoke in Austin, flew to Georgia, and by days end crashed in their own bed. Then, for Scottie’s senior year, Robert Rowling invited the team back.

Scottie’s senior year, my junior year, we played with Bob Rowling, first group off, said Steven Chervony, a Boca Raton native and Scottie’s final roommate in Austin. The three of us played really, really quickly. We finish up and walk to the green-and-white umbrellas at the clubhouse. Bob Rowling says to us, ‘You guys want a beer?’ You know, this is a school-sponsored trip, so we’re obviously not supposed to be drinking. But Scottie had reached a point with Coach Fields where he could do no wrong. Whatever Scottie did, there was nothing Coach Fields would get upset about. So Scottie says, ‘Sure.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, if Scottie says it’s OK, then I guess I’ll take one too.’ So me, Scottie, and Bob Rowling sit under the umbrellas and have a beer. I just remember sitting there thinking, ‘How crazy is this moment?’ We just played Augusta National and now we’re drinking a beer with Bob Rowling.

There are two definitive sides to Scottie: fully on and fully off. Brax McCarthy was a fifth-year senior when a freshman moved into Willbert Road. Scottie was a blue-chip recruit. Brax, a walk-on who didn’t crack the roster until junior year.

There was this Myrtle Beach shirt he always wore. Size 6-XL. No lie, it was 6-XL. This thing covered Scottie like a bed sheet and he wore it all the time. So last November, we’re in Sea Island for the RSM and I’m caddying for Kramer Hickok. I ask Scottie about the Myrtle Beach shirt and he starts cracking up.

Did he still have it? I asked.

No, no, said he got rid of it. That was pretty disappointing.

After finishing low amateur at the 2017 United States Open, Scottie earned a Walker Cup invitation, uniting with teammate Doug Ghim and future Tour stalwarts Collin Morikawa, Will Zalatoris, Cameron Champ, and Maverick McNealy. Spider Miller claimed his second stint as U.S. Captain and the stacked roster vowed to redeem its country for the seven-point drubbing in 2015 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.

Los Angeles Country Club played host and Spider Miller teased the Hollywood surroundings. He took the boys to a production sitcom, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, and wiggled onto the Valley Club. The American’s won nineteen to seven, in what Spider calls, Without question the greatest team ever assembled from either side.

You might be right, I said. Could you sense there was something different about Scottie? Something that made you believe he’d be World No. 1 someday?

I’ll just tell you this, Scottie is extremely competitive. Extremely competitive. Despite his gentle demeanor, he’ll get pissed. I love that about him and that’s all I’m going to say about it.

I released a confused laugh to the confusing remark. Prior to calling Spider Miller I had only researched the exterior of the 2017 Cup. It’s final score, site location, roster makeup, but never a deep dive. I was unprepared. Attempting to slow play, I asked Spider about his defeat in 2015, while simultaneously Googling the 2017 pairings. The format for the Walker Cup began with Saturday foursomes, then Saturday singles, Sunday foursomes, then Sunday singles. Eight of ten competed in the first three matches, while all ten played Sunday singles. Scottie paired with Cameron Champ to start, losing three-and-two to Connor Syme and Paul McBride. Then Scheffler sat. Benched for Saturday singles and Sunday foursomes—the lone American to miss consecutive matches. Of nineteen points for the United States, Scottie authored one.

Spider returned to Scheffler on his own. You gotta have fire in your belly to be great and he has it. As captain, the players didn’t necessarily agree with every decision I made. And look, that’s part of being the captain. You have to make decisions based on your beliefs and that’s why I was there. Not everything you do pleases everyone. Scottie and I remain friends, but I gave a pairing that he didn’t like and I saw a fire that I’ll never forget.

During Scheffler’s senior season at U.T. Golf Club, the routine went as followed: The team completed eighteen holes. Scottie and Steven Chervony held a nine-hole putting contest. Scottie grabbed a burger—always a burger—and then meandered to the team room for table tennis.

When I got to Texas, I was way behind the other guys, Chervony said. So I start challenging Scottie to a putting contest. This was every day. A daily staple. For Scottie, he’s so competitive that it wasn’t even about winning. He just hates losing that much. If he lost, we’d run it back. Always another one. We’d spend two, three hours on the putting green. We’d create competitive situations that when I was in a tournament, the pressure was less than what I felt competing against Scottie. But, look, and this is the truth. Whatever happened on the golf course that day was settled on the ping-pong table.

By 2018, the craze went full tilt. The golfers made routine visits to the Austin Table Tennis Club, purchasing $50 paddles and three-star balls that were packed in sleeves.

Scottie was the best, for sure. Doug Ghim didn’t have crazy spin or extreme power, but playing Doug was like playing a wall, Chervony said. "In the winter it’d get dark around 5 p.m. and nobody wanted to leave. Traffic was so bad. So we’d play ping-pong until eight o’clock and we’re always playing doubles.

I remember this so vividly. The table was in the corner of the room and there was a stack, pallets of Gatorade. Scottie would get mad and he’d start kicking the Gatorade. Well, one day he let loose, got so pissed that he went through the Gatorade and kicked a hole in the drywall. Next thing we know Coach Fields installed padding around the table, like in a gym behind the basketball goal.

Coach Fields scrolled through his iPhone and located a photo from the day he met Scottie, a five-foot-nothin’, rail-thin thirteen-year-old. The sixth grader wore a white Titleist hat and stood to the right of Fields, the trophy presenter. You see what color he’s wearing? asked Fields, nudging my shoulder.

It was an orange polo, albeit lighter than Texas burnt, with white horizontal stripes. The coach smiled at the we-had-him-all-along notion, concealing years of grapple for Scottie’s signature.

I had arrived at U.T. Golf Club without an agenda, carrying only a pen and legal pad. On the top line I wrote two sentences:

What did Crenshaw say to the 2022 team before Grayhawk? (Chapter 18) Scottie’s commitment?

I began with the latter, asking Fields why Scottie picked Austin. He paralleled the process to Jordan Spieth’s recruitment; years of hustle that created nights of doubt, sprinkled with moments of optimism.

In high school it was commonplace for the Scheffler’s to make the three-hour commute from Highland Park to the state capital. Unofficial visits were deemed unlimited, and Fields padded the expense budget when Scottie asked to watch Rick Barnes and the Texas basketball team. But despite their growing bond, Fields worried that his recruiting pitch was losing steam with Diane Scheffler.

Earlier that year, the coach and his assistant, Ryan Murphy, traveled