AUGUSTA, Ga — Larry Mize presented Sandy Lyle with the green jacket in 1988. Thirty-five years later, they departed Augusta National together.
As Mize concluded his second round of the 87th Masters Tournament on Saturday morning, Lyle was waiting behind No. 18 green; the two embraced and then Sandy handed Larry a tissue.
“That was very special for Sandy to come out and greet me there,” Mize said. “Sandy’s a good friend, a great champion, and to finish off with him is pretty cool.”
As a steady rain pelted down, Mize walked up No. 18 to a standing ovation. His playing partners, Harrison Crowe and Min Woo Lee, waited in the fairway and allowed the 1987 champion to walk alone toward the 18th green.
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Mize lifted his white cap and then applauded the patrons.
“To get a reception like that in this weather, I didn’t expect that. I didn’t expect that at all,” Mize said. “Words don’t do it justice.”
Mize, a Georgia Tech graduate, was also met at No. 18 by Russell Henley — a Georgia Bulldog.
Making his 40th and final Masters appearance, the 1987 champion Larry Mize takes in the moment on No. 18. #themasters pic.twitter.com/1ICbTf7ARe
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 8, 2023
“It was just really cool to sneak back there and watch his last hole,” said Henley, who played multiple practice rounds with Mize this week. “Living in Columbus the last four years, he’s been a mentor and father figure for me. He’s somebody I look up to a lot.”
In addition to winning in 1987, which earned Mize a lifetime exemption here, he finished third in 1994 and tied for sixth in 1992. His last made cut came in 2017.
No, Mize’s body of work won’t be stamped among the all-time greats: One win. Three top-10s. Twenty missed cuts. As Larry admits, “I don’t belong in the same sentence as most of these guys.”
But what Mize owns is a moment. A MacGregor sand wedge that bounced twice up the bank, hopped once on the green, rolled 60 feet and vanished.
Mize’s 1987 playoff win came at the expense of Greg Norman and Seve Ballesteros.
“The next week at Hilton Head, I saw Greg in the locker room, and I just told him, ‘You handled it like a champion,’” Mize recalled. “I thought he handled everything really well because that’s tough. He feels like he’s in good shape, and I pitch it in. I know he hated it.”
When asked how being a Masters champion shaped his life, Mize said, “I don’t think it changed me as a person, but other than that, it changed a lot. It gave me opportunities — the recognition I’ve gotten. It’s amazing to win the Masters, and then to do it in that fashion, just enhanced it. It changed my life for the better, no doubt.”
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