Bridesmaid no more: Remembering when Tommy Aaron won the 1973 Masters

“As time goes by I seem to appreciate it more and more.”

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Fifty years ago at the Masters, a longtime bridesmaid finally tied the knot at Augusta National.

Georgia native Tommy Aaron overcame the stigma of 14 runner-up finishes in 12 years on the PGA Tour to win the biggest tournament of his career.

“It has bothered me for a long time to be reminded of all the tournaments I failed to win,” Aaron, who had won only one official Tour title, the 1970 AT&T Classic, told the Minneapolis Tribune at the time. “I think that reputation was greatly overplayed. It’s no crime to finish second, after all.”

Aaron, who is now 86 and deals with early stages Parkinson’s disease, returned to the site of his greatest victory Saturday and then attended the Champions Dinner on Tuesday evening. The Georgia native grew up dreaming of winning the Masters.

“My dad played and I remember, I would listen to him and his friends talk about the Masters and I’d sit there and think wouldn’t it be great someday to play in that Masters tournament?” Aaron said during a phone interview with Golfweek.

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Aaron had four top-10 finishes in his previous six starts at the Masters, but few were expecting Aaron to rally from four strokes back going into the final round in 1973 and be the golfer slipping into the green jacket in Butler Cabin.

Aaron opened in 68, but dropped back during the middle rounds with scores of 73 and 74. The final round was played on Monday due to bad weather on Saturday. Aaron began the day four strokes behind Peter Oosterhuis, but came out charging with birdies on the first three holes and tacked on another at the par-5 eighth for good measure to shoot 4-under 32 on the first nine.

“My attitude was I just need to make birdies if I’m going to win,” Aaron recalled.

The moment of truth for Aaron came at the par-5 15th after he hit a poor drive leaving more than 230 yards to the green. It was a risky shot but he decided the reward was worth it.

“As I pulled out the 3-wood, I heard this collective groan from the gallery saying, ‘Oh, my God, I can’t believe he’s going for the green,’ because they knew how far back I was,” Aaron recalled. “And I hit a beautiful shot that landed just on the right side of the green and went over by about 10 yards. And now I was faced with this real delicate pitch back to the flag stick and if I play that shot a little too hard, it’s going to go down the slope in the water.”

Coming up short on his chip was almost as problematic. Aaron handled the delicate pitch perfectly, leaving himself a straight, 5-foot uphill birdie putt, which he drained. On a day when the average score was 74, Aaron posted a 68 and then had to wait and watch the final three groups finish.

“When you beat the field by six strokes, that’s pretty good,” said Ben Crenshaw, the two-time Masters champ who was in the field as an amateur.

J.C. Snead made a costly double at 12 and missed birdie tries at the final two holes to come up a shot short and finish second. Jack Nicklaus closed in 66 but it was only good enough for a three-way tie for third. Aaron signed for a 72-hole total of 5-under 283, but there was one last testy moment.

Aaron, who had been the scorekeeper in 1968 when Roberto DeVicenzo signed an incorrect scorecard and lost out on a playoff with Bob Goalby, noticed that Johnny Miller had marked him for a par at 13 instead of the birdie that he made.

“I always check my scorecard to be sure it’s correct. Always. And it’s a very simple thing. You can get in severe trouble,” Aaron said.

In victory, he joined Claude Harmon as the only other native Georgian in history to win the Masters. (Larry Mize became the third in 1987, but no Georgian has done it since then.)

“This is the dream of a lifetime come true,” Aaron said at the time. “As a Georgia boy, I’ve been thinking of winning the Masters since I was old enough to hold a club.”

And 50 years later, his hometown remembered his greatest accomplishment.

“They had a couple of very nice parties to recognize me,” Aaron said, noting one at Cherokee Run Golf Club near Atlanta and another at his hometown course, Chattahoochee Golf Club.

This Georgia boy made good and never left his hometown of Gainesville.

“I made enough money I could have lived anywhere I wanted to, but winning the Masters didn’t change my life in that respect,” Aaron said. “Being a major winner separates you a little bit from the rest of the players and you’re always viewed as a Masters champion. And, of course, as time goes by I seem to appreciate it more and more, thinking that my name will be on that trophy forever with all those great players from Ben Hogan to Tiger Woods. It’s a great feeling.”

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