12 Things You Didn't Know About Sam Bennett
1. Bennett was born on December 21st, 1999.
2. Sam and his brother Marcus got started in golf thanks to their father Mark, who got them playing golf on the nine-hole course in Madisonville, Texas, a small town about two hours north of Houston.
3. He was introduced to golf at Oak Ridge Country Club. “The course kind of looks like a cow pasture,” Bennett told Global Golf Post. “I mean, it’s just burned fairways and dirt. I’ve never had a lesson to this day, so this is a homemade swing. I like it that way. My swing feels different day by day, but it doesn’t matter. It’s just a feel thing.”
4. Bennett's height is five foot, ten inches.
5. He attended Madisonville High School, where he was a state champion in 2016. He played three other sports there, where he was an All-District shooting guard on the basketball hardwood, a defensive standout on the baseball diamond, and district champion on the tennis court.
6. Bennett attended Texas A&M where as a junior, he earned All-American honors and represented the American team at the 2021 Arnold Palmer Cup. In his senior year he was the SEC Player of the Year and was a finalist for the Fred Haskins Award, given to the most outstanding collegiate golfer in the country.
7. Bennett's father Mark suffered from Alzheimer's and sadly passed away whilst Sam was in his junior season at college, in June 2021. One of Mark’s final messages to his son, “Don’t wait to do something,” is tattooed on Bennett’s left forearm in his father’s exact handwriting.
8. Bennett won the 2022 U.S. Amateur Championship. His path to victory was one of the most bruising in championship history if one goes by the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Bennett took down #13, 27, 10, 9, and 8 before holding off #70 Ben Carr with a 1-up victory on the 36th hole at Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey.
9. Bennett's coach at Texas A&M was a man called Brian Kortan, who actually caddied for the youngster at the 2023 Masters tournament.
10. Bennett says he dreamed of playing in The Masters since he was three years old. He achieved this in 2023.
11. At the end of his senior year, he qualified for the 2022 U.S. Open, and with rounds of 70-73-74-73 at The Country Club, he finished T-49th.
12. Bennett played in the Georgia Cup, which matches the U.S. and British Amateur champions, and Aldrich Potgieter beat him 5&4.
