AUGUSTA, Ga. — The legendary John Wooden often said that his team employed “finishers,” not “starters,” on his legendary UCLA Bruin teams — a method that signified the importance of closing out games in the final minutes rather than getting off to solid starts.
For Masters rookie Matt McCarty, this mantra certainly applied to him on Friday at Augusta National. Granted, he did drop a shot on the par-4 18th. But that paled in comparison to what happened earlier. The former Santa Clara standout got off to a nightmare start, making a double bogey at the 1st and a bogey six on the par-5 2nd.
Considering this is his first time here, his round could have gone off the rails rather quickly. The mental battle of trying to keep the train on the tracks is a tall task, especially in golf’s most hallowed grounds. But McCarty did that and then some. He made four birdies on the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th holes to somehow finish the First Nine in red figures with a 1-under 35.
“I didn’t really hit a good shot until the 6th,” McCarty said.
Boy did he hit some fantastic shots after then, though.
After making the turn, McCarty danced his way through Amen Corner, making birdies on the 12th and 13th to climb up the leaderboard further. Another par-breaker on the 15th followed and then the Scottsdale, Arizona, native stuck his second shot close on the 17th, where he made his eighth birdie of the round.
McCarty, a lefty, explained that his play had more to do with his ability to shape shots rather than being a Southpaw.
“I think if you look at the lefties, I think that just for the most part, those guys move the ball both ways. I think it’s less about being left-handed,” McCarty said.
“There’s obviously some shots, like 12 if you pull it you’re going to cover. It’s easier to hit a cut probably into the green on 13. But I think you’ve just got to move the ball both ways and be comfortable with doing that, and I think that was kind of a big part of my prep this week was don’t really — obviously you can go to some stock shots and for me that’s a draw, but there’s a lot of fades you’ve got to hit out here, and I think if you’re comfortable moving it both ways and hitting it in the right spots with the right shot, I think that’s bigger than anything.”
Even bigger than that was McCarty’s ability to control his nerves.
“Yeah, 100 percent,” McCarty said when asked about if he was nervous.
“I think you’ve got to kind of just reframe that. I think I’ve learned over the last few years, reframe that nervousness into excitement. I think those feelings are the same in the body, and if you just tell yourself you’re excited, and who’s not excited to come out and play in the Masters and who’s not nervous to come out and play in the Masters. There’s a big learning curve, but we’ll see how we can do the next two days.”
Who knows how things will play out for the Masters rookie. After all, this tournament has produced only one rookie winner over the past 50 years, with Fuzzy Zoeller holding that distinction. Even then, he won in 1979.
But if McCarty can keep his nerves down and swing like he has, perhaps he will join Zoeller and fellow lefites Mike Weir, Phil Mickelson, and Bubba Watson as a Masters champion. That would be some story, nobody saw coming. Then again, we are still early in the championship, with a long way to go. It’s all about how he will finish.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
