Agony and Ecstasy at Augusta: How First Coast, South Georgia players have fared at The Masters

The First Coast and Georgia’s Golden Isles have produced two Masters champions — and also a long history of heartbreak in the season’s first major championship.

When The Masters begins on Thursday at Augusta National Golf Club, a half-dozen players with area ties will have a chance to add to the former and hopefully avoid the latter.

The group is led by Players champion Cameron Smith of Ponte Vedra Beach, who is making his first start since carving out a 10-birdie, four-bogey 66 in the final round at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on March 12, the first Monday finish to the tournament since 2005.

Also playing are past champions Vijay Singh (2000) of Ponte Vedra Beach and Zach Johnson (2007) of St. Simons Island, Ga., who have combined for 45 starts at Augusta. Singh is playing in his 29th Masters and Johnson in his 18th.

The group is rounded out by Billy Horschel of Ponte Vedra Beach and Brian Harman and Hudson Swafford of St. Simons Island.

Here’s a look at the history of First Coast and South Georgia players in The Masters:

The success stories

Singh tops world-class leaderboard: Singh won the second of his three major championships by coming from four shots off the lead after the first round to beat Ernie Els by three shots in 2000 with weekend rounds of 70-69.

With weather and wind an issue, Singh led the field in greens in regulation (58 of 72, .805) and turned back a list of contenders that included fellow World Golf Hall of Fame members Els, Tiger Woods, Davis Love III, Phil Mickelson, Greg Norman and Nick Price, and major champions David Duval of Jacksonville, Tom Lehman, Hal Sutton and Fred Couples. Woods, who rebounded from an opening 75 to finish six shots back, won the next four majors.

Johnson beats the cold: It was stormy, rainy and finally frigid on a freaky weather week at Augusta in 2007. Wind-chill factors didn’t get out of the 40s during the final round but Johnson posted one of only two scores in the 60s with a closing 69 that earned him a two-shot victory over Woods, Retief Goosen and Rory Sabbatini.

Johnson’s score of 1-over 289 matched the highest for a winner with Jack Burke (1956) and Sam Snead (1954) and it wasn’t over until he made a deft up-and-down for par at No. 18.

Cam the birdie machine: Cameron Smith didn’t win the 2020 Masters, the only one played in the fall because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But he accomplished something winner Dustin Johnson, nor any other player in tournament history did. Smith became the first player in history to shoot in the 60s in all four rounds, tying for second with Sungae Im at 15-under par 273.

Johnson had to shoot the tournament record of 20-under 268 to make sure he stayed ahead, pulling out a five-way tie with Smith, Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm and Abraham Ancer at the halfway point. Johnson fired rounds of 65-68 on the weekend, while Smith went 69-69 to go with his opening rounds of 67-68.

The agony

Mattiace’s close call: Nease graduate Len Mattiace made only one bogey in the final round of the 2003 Masters — at the 72nd hole. He still signed for a 65, one shot off the final-round record, then watched as Mike Weir made a slippery 8-foot par putt to preserve a tie at 7-under 281.

It all fell apart in the playoff as Mattiace went over the 10th green and couldn’t get his third shot on the putting surface, eventually making a double-bogey. But it was magic during regulation: he pitched in for eagle at the par-5 eighth hole from the left-front, a nearly impossible shot, drained an 80-foot putt at No. 10 and eagled No. 13 after spanking a 4-wood to within 4 feet of the hole.

Mattice bravely faced the music after the round, choking back tears but answering every painful question.

“I tied for the low score in The Masters after 72 holes, which is something a lot of good players don’t get to experience,” he said.

O’Meara passes Duval: David Duval of Jacksonville did almost everything he could in the final round in 1998 to put one arm in a green jacket. He came from three shots off the pace Sunday and with a string of birdies (highlighted by a chip-in at No. 10), took a three-shot lead with three holes to play. But Mark O’Meara birdied three of his last four holes, Duval three-putted from 40 feet at No. 16 and O’Meara won by one shot.

The day also includes runs at the top by Couples and Jim Furyk and an emotional charge by 56-year-old Jack Nicklaus, who shot 68 and tied for sixth.

Duval contended two more times. He played with Singh in the final twosome in 2000 and was within three shots while sitting in the 13th fairway. Duval dumped a 5-iron into the water and tied for third, four shots back. A year later, Duval missed birdie-putt attempts at Nos. 17 and 18 and Woods won by two shots.

Unrequited Love: Winning the Masters was nearly everything to Love, who had lived on St. Simons Island since he was a teenager. His best chance was in 1995 when he began the final round three shots behind Ben Crenshaw — who had been a pallbearer at the funeral of his beloved college coach Harvey Penick the day before the final round — and played his first 15 holes at 6-under, with no bogeys to tie Crenshaw for the lead. But a birdie-bogey swing in Crenshaw's favor at No. 16 gave him a two-shot lead, both players birdied No. 17 and Crenshaw made a safe bogey at the last to win by one shot at 14-under 274, with Love done with a 66 and hoping for at least a playoff.

Love had six top-10s in The Masters and would win the PGA in 1997 and add a second Players Championship in 2003.

"I just had this feeling all week that this was going to happen,'' Love said later about Crenshaw or Tom Kite, two of Penick's star pupils, winning the week the wise old pro passed away.

The Augusta roll call: Area players in the Masters

Deane Beman, Ponte Vedra Beach: Starts, 13; best finish, T19th (1969).

Don Bislinghoff, Jacksonville: Starts, 1; best finish, T58th (1956).

Jonas Blixt, Ponte Vedra Beach: Starts, 2; best finish, T2nd (2014).

Jonathan Byrd, St. Simons Island, Ga.: Starts, 5; best finish, T8th (2003).

Mark Carnevale, Ponte Vedra Beach: Starts, 1; best finish, MC (1993).

Bubba Dickerson, Fernandina Beach: Starts, 1; best finish, MC (2002).

Bob Dickson, Ponte Vedra Beach: Starts, 3; best finish, T17th (1973).

David Duval, Jacksonville: Starts, 11; best finish, T2nd, (1998, 2001).

David Eger, Ponte Vedra Beach: Starts, 1; best finish, MC (1989).

Harris English, St. Simons Island, Ga.: Starts, 2; best finish, T42nd (2016).

Matt Every, Jacksonville Beach: Starts, 2; best finish, MC (2014, 2015).

Nick Flanagan, Jacksonville Beach: Starts, 1; best finish, MC (2004).

Fred Funk, Ponte Vedra Beach: Starts, 12; best finish, T17th (1997).

Jim Furyk, Jacksonville: Starts, 20; best finish, 4th (2003).

Lanto Griffin, Ponte Vedra Beach: Starts, 2; best finish, MC (2020, 2021).

Donnie Hammond, Jacksonville: Starts, 4; best finish, T11th (1986).

Brian Harman, St. Simons Island, Ga.: Starts, 3; best finish, T12 (2021).

Gabriel Hjertstedt, Ponte Vedra Beach: Starts, 3; best finish, MC (1998, 1999, 2000).

Billy Horschel, Ponte Vedra Beach: Starts, 7; best finish, T17 (2016).

Zach Johnson, St. Simons Island, Ga.: Starts, 17; best finish, 1st (2007).

Patton Kizzire, St. Simons Island, Ga.: Starts, 2; best finish, T18th (2019).

Russell Knox, Jacksonville Beach: Starts, 2; best finish, MC (2016, 2017).

Billy Kratzert, Ponte Vedra Beach: Starts, 8; best finish, T5th (1978).

Matt Kuchar, St. Simons Island, Ga.: Starts, 14; best finish, T3rd (2012).

Frank Lickliter, Ponte Vedra Beach: Starts, 2; best finish, MC (1999, 2002).

David Lingmerth, Ponte Vedra Beach: Starts, 1; best finish, MC (2016).

Davis Love III, St. Simons Island, Ga.: Starts, 20; best finish, 2nd (1995, 1999).

Len Mattiace, Jacksonville: Starts, 3; best finish, 2nd (2003).

Billy Maxwell, Jacksonville: Starts, 13; best finish, T5th (1962).

Blaine McCallister, Ponte Vedra Beach: Starts, 4; best finish, T48th (1992).

Mark McCumber, Jacksonville: Starts, 13; best finish, T11th (1986).

Steve Melnyk, Jacksonville: Starts, 5; best finish, T12th (1972).

Keith Mitchell, St. Simons Island, Ga.: Starts, 1; best finish, T43rd (2019).

Calvin Peete, Ponte Vedra Beach: Starts, 8; best finish T11th (1986).

J.T. Poston, St. Simons Island, Ga.: Starts, 1; best finish, MC (2020).

Doc Redman, Ponte Vedra Beach: Starts, 1; best finish, MC (2018).

Dan Sikes, Jacksonville: Starts, 10; best finish, 5th (1965).

Vijay Singh, Ponte Vedra Beach: Starts, 28; best finish, 1st (2000).

Cameron Smith, Ponte Vedra Beach: Starts, 5; best finish, T2nd (2020).

Hudson Swafford, St. Simons Island, Ga.: Starts, 2; best finish, MC (2017, 2021).

Michael Thompson, St. Simons Island, Ga.: Starts, 2; best finish, T25th (2013).

Billy Tuten, Palatka: Starts, 1; best finish, MC (1984).

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Majoring in the Masters: How First Coast, South Georgia players have fare at Augusta