Inside the Masters: A review of Swafford's weekend and a 'big thanks' to a best friend

SATURAY REVIEW

As the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

With that in mind, Hudson Swafford and I woke up Saturday keeping the same preround game plan in mind that we did on Friday before Hudson’s incredible round of 3-under 69 in absolutely brutal conditions.

Friday’s difficulty was the wind but Saturday brought with it the frigid cold.

The high never got above 55 degrees and the wind chill made it feel like low to mid-40s most of the day. Thankfully, due to his great round Friday, Hudson vaulted up the leaderboard and that afforded us a later tee time of 12:10 p.m.

We pulled up to the North Augusta Waffle House and ordered the exact same meal as before. Hud, some grits, scrambled eggs, bacon and a biscuit. For myself, the ham, egg and cheese sandwich with some hash browns, of course. We headed back to the house to kill some time before leaving for the course.

As was mentioned by Scottie Scheffler in his post-tournament press conference, mornings can be very difficult when you have an afternoon tee time on the weekend at the Masters. It’s hard for the player to take his mind off the impending round and the anxiety can be tough to overcome. We kept it lighthearted, watched a little TV, and just talked about all the random things we always do, just like when I used to carry Hud’s bag down the fairways at courses all over the country a decade ago.

GUZZO COLUMNS

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We headed to the course and arrived as usual about two hours before his tee time. Hud, in his beanie and occasionally using his PXG mittens, got off to a great start. He was 1 under through 6 holes until we arrived at the par 4 7th hole. The 7th, along with the 17th, have been been tough tee shots for Hud all week.

Unfortunately, he blocked it a little to the right and was stymied by the trees down the right side. He punched out to the fairway, came up short with his wedge shot into the green, and was unable to get it up and down which led to a tough to swallow double bogey. He made pars all the way through the 13th hole, which included some great up and downs at the 10th and 11th holes to keep the momentum alive.

A mistake on 14 led to a bogey but he came right back with a birdie on the 15th. He made three great pars coming in to finish with a round of 73 in winter like weather. Pars were the name of the game on Saturday and Hud made a lot of the them. His score pushed him up the leaderboard even further, going from T23rd to T18th headed into Sunday.

We enjoyed a nice chef catered meal from a restaurant out of Hud’s hometown of Saint Simons Island and headed to bed to rest up for his Sunday round.

SUNDAY REVIEW

The sun rose on Sunday morning just like any other morning but this day was different.

This was Masters Sunday and my childhood best friend was in the hunt at the holy grail of golf tournaments. What wasn’t different was our preround routine. Waffle House, route to course, Leona Lewis “Bleeding Love”, if you’ve been following our Augusta Adventure you get the picture.

Hud was in 80th place before we implemented these superstitions and now he’s 18th so why change anything up? We were assigned a 12:50 p.m. tee time with Si Woo Kim. He and Hudson know each other well so I was happy that Hud got a pairing that he would he be comfortable with in his biggest round in quite some time. The crowds were gigantic and the weather for the first time all week was magnificent.

“Fore please, Hudson Swafford now driving” was belted from one of the many Augusta National members that wear green jackets which signified it was “showtime” as Hud’s son James likes to say.

Another day and another good drive on the first hole for Hudson. He missed the green but made a great up and down which undoubtedly settled the nerves a little bit. An easy birdie at the second and a par on the third and fourth holes settled him even more.

Back to back bogeys at 5 and 6 set him back but he settled in with all pars from hole 7 to hole 12 to right the ship. He hit a great drive on 13 and hit the green in 2 on the par 5 but an ill-timed 4 putt lead to a bogey on one of the easier holes on the course. Tiger Woods and Scottie Scheffler both had 4-putts this week at Augusta so its easily doable! Hudson battled back after that incident with birdies on the next two holes which has been a common theme for Hudson this week.

When a mistake is made he has battled back to make birdies and that is incredibly important at the Masters. Holes 17 and 18 are some of the toughest on the course and they dealt him a couple bogeys coming in to finish his day. He carded a 2-over par 74 in the final round which led to a T30th finish. He said his goodbyes to his family that rooted him on in tough weather conditions all week long then Hudson and I headed to the Caddy building for a cold beer and shower before departing the hallowed grounds of Augusta National.

BATTLED BACK

I just can’t reiterate enough how proud I am of Hudson and how he battled back after that heartbreaking opening round of 5-over 77. At that point in the tournament he was only beating 11 other competitors it the entire field. He didn’t let that round or the fluke occurrence of losing a ball on the 5th hole get him down and fade into the Augusta sunset. He settled in, refocused, and understood that he had a lot of holes left to get right back into the tournament. It’s a mindset that any junior golfer reading this should prioritize.

This was the opportunity of a lifetime for me. Hudson and I have been through many ups and downs together over the last 25 years and to share this experience with him in Augusta was very special. The conversations in the courtesy car, in the Waffle House booths and in the living room of the house are ones I’ll cherish for a lifetime.

As I wrap up my contribution to the Tallahassee Democrat, I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank my wife Libby for holding down the fort in Tallahassee and taking care of our 1-year old son Grayson while daddy was away for a week.

Also a big thanks to Hudson himself, for inviting me to stay with him, providing me with tickets that cost multiple months of mortgage payments and for being the best friend anybody could ask for.

I know this is just one of the many Masters you will play in and I look forward to the day that it’s your turn to slip on that green jacket in the Butler cabin.

Editor's note: Cory Guzzo was born and raised in Tallahassee, where he currently works as a lobbyist. Cory and Hudson first met on the junior golf and all-star baseball circuits when they were around 11 years old. They attended Maclay together and played varsity golf. When Hudson went to Georgia and Cory to Florida State, Cory caddied for Hudson at the numerous prestigious amateur golf tournaments Hudson was invited to during the summer. In 2010, Cory caddied for Hudson at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, when he participated as an amateur. Both served roles as groomsmen in each other’s wedding.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Hudson Swafford ends the Masters Tournament on a positive note