When it comes to the seven amateurs teeing it up at Augusta National next week, there’s no shortage of star power.
There are numerous USGA champions and an NCAA champ. Winners of prestigious amateur events from around the world. For some, it’s their first time at the famed Masters tournament in what each hopes will be a long stretch of making the trek down Magnolia Lane every April.
The seven ams will compete for the title of low amateur. If they make the 36-hole cut, then they will battle for the Silver Cup. An amateur has never won the Masters, but the tournament has plenty of history involving ams, including the famed Crow’s Nest, the living space on the third floor of the Augusta National clubhouse, and the Monday night Amateur Dinner.
Here’s a look at the seven amateurs competing in the 2023 Masters.
Sam Bennett holds the Havemeyer trophy after winning the 2022 U.S. Amateur at The Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey. (Grant Halverson/USGA)
The 22-year-old from Madisonville, Texas, won the U.S. Amateur last summer at The Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey, beating Ben Carr 1 up. Bennett is a fifth-year senior at Texas A&M, where he shared medalist honors at the John Burns Collegiate and has five top-20 finishes in nine starts this season. He won 2022 SEC Golfer of the Year and represented the United States on the 2022 Arnold Palmer Cup team.
Ben Carr plays his tee shot on hole ten during the final match at the 2022 U.S. Amateur at The Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey. (Grant Halverson/USGA)
Carr reached the finals of the U.S. Amateur last summer in New Jersey, falling to Bennett on the final hole. The 22-year-old from Columbus, Georgia, has finished in the top 15 in six of his seven starts for Georgia Southern this year, including a win at the Schenkel Invitational and a runner-up at the Colleton River Collegiate.
Harrison Crowe of Australia plays his tee shot on the 9th hole during Day Three of the 2022 World Amateur Team Golf Championships – Eisenhower Trophy competition at Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Breteche on Sept. 2, 2022 in Paris, France. (Photo by Octavio Passos/Getty Images)
The 21-year-old Australian won the 2022 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at Amata Spring Country Club in Thailand, beating China’s Bo Jin by one stroke. He became the third champion from Australia in the event’s history, joining Antonio Murdaca and Curtis Luck. This…
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Golfweek…