Masters Week Headlines
Golf is Back on Track in 2021!
After a crazy year in 2020, the PGA Tour is back on track in 2021! The Masters kicked off the golf season, and even though Tiger Woods was not able to participate due to his recent car accident, it was still an incredible weekend of golf at Augusta National. Here are some of our picks for notable moments at the Masters:
Hideki Matsuyama
Let’s start by congratulating Hideki Matsuyama who made history on Sunday as the first male golfer from Japan to win a major championship. This is a proud moment for both Hideki and his country.
The 29-year-old took advantage of moving day and moved from -5 to -11 on Saturday, carding a 65 with an eagle and four birdies in his final eight holes. This set him up for a comfortable 4-shot lead going into Sunday.
He stayed on top of the leaderboard on Sunday, even after running into trouble down the stretch, with bogeys at three of the final four holes. This was his first tournament win since 2017 and was one for the record books.
A cool moment that was caught on camera was when Hideki's caddie, Shota Hayafuji, removed his hat and bowed his head after returning the pin on the 18th green. What a great show of respect and class to the course and the event.
Hideki, who is usually very stoic, was choking up while walking from the 18th hole to the scoring tent. "I'm really happy," he said. "My nerves really didn't start on the second nine. It was right from the start today and right to the very last putt. I was thinking about (my family) all the way round today and I'm really happy I played well for them. Hopefully I'll be a pioneer and many other Japanese people will follow. I'm glad to be able to open the flood gates hopefully and many more will follow me."
People are already talking about what Hideki will serve at the Champions Dinner next year. He loves sushi and sake and the Twitterverse is speculating that the dinner will be epic!
Will Zalatoris
Those who know Will Zalatoris aren’t surprised that he ended up in second place in his first appearance at the Masters, but the rest of us were wondering: Where did this kid come from? And why does he look so familiar?
Will Zalatoris entered the 2021 Masters as the No. 46-ranked golfer in the world. He is technically a member of the Korn Ferry developmental tour and is leading the 2020-21 Korn Ferry tour points list, winning $403,978 in 16 events.
The 24-year-old finished T6 in the U.S. Open at Winged Foot in 2020 and earned special temporary membership on the PGA Tour, which allows him unlimited sponsor exemptions this season. The Masters is Zalatoris’ ninth start in 2021 on the PGA Tour. So far, he's played two majors and been inside the top 6 at both.
He lives in Texas and played golf with both Tony Romo and Jordan Spieth during the pandemic break. They weren’t surprised at his Masters finish. At least the rest of us will now know who he is next time!
A fun fact about Zalatoris is that he has often been compared to Happy Gilmore's caddie in the Waterbury Open. This could be why he looks familiar to some people. He decided to make the most of the comparison by having his 60-degree wedge custom engraved with, "Mr. Gilmore, I'm your caddy".
Adam Sandler got in on the action, tweeting that “Mr. Gilmore is watching you and very proud.”
At Indi Golf, we offer custom stamping options, so if you want to customize your wedges with a favorite saying, please contact us for details.
Si Woo Kim
If you tuned into the Masters a little late on Friday afternoon and saw coverage of Si Woo Kim, you may have been wondering why on earth he was putting with a 3-wood!
It turns out that Kim was playing well for the first 13 holes and was 5-under for the tournament. On the 14th hole, Kim’s second shot ended up on the back fringe, he used his putter from there and rolled it four feet past the hole, and missed the next putt too.
That’s when Kim got frustrated and slammed his putter so hard into the ground that the club’s shaft broke. There was no way he could continue using it, so Kim putted with his 3-wood. Remarkably, he ended up making 4 easy 2-putt pars on holes 15 - 18.
He later explained that he decided to use his 3-wood rather than blading a wedge because he felt he could control the speed better, especially on greens as fast as Augusta National.
Luckily he was able to get a replacement putter to use over the weekend. He finished at 2-under and T12.
Congratulations to James K., The Winner of our Augusta-themed Giveaway!
Thank you to all the contest entrants for supporting us and entering the contest. We appreciate your support for our brand.
James will receive a set of 3 new 2021 Indi Wedges, a custom Indi logo hat by d.hudson and a $150 Indi Golf Gift Card to Indigolfclubs.com
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