The tears were inevitable.
Everybody who knows Ben Crenshaw — and at this point everybody knows “Gentle Ben” — realizes that he’ll cry at the drop of a hat. Win the Masters the week after his mentor Harvey Penick dies, and he’ll bend over and sob into his hands. Play his last Masters ever, well, this was a little more subdued, but emotional, nonetheless.
The two-time Masters champion hung up his cleats after playing his 176th official round at Augusta National on Friday.
“I feel like I won the tournament,” said Crenshaw, who was ushered into the main interview room at the club despite signing for a 36-hole 32 over par. “I’ll never forget that (post-round reception). My girls were all here, my wife, Julie. People here have a great affection for the champions here, and we felt it.”
That Crenshaw had to make the final loop without his loyal caddie on his bag was an unfortunate asterisk. Carl Jackson, who handled that duty for 38 of Crenshaw’s 44 Masters, couldn’t go because of a virus and sore ribs. So his half-brother, Justin “Bud” Jackson, filled in for both rounds this year.
But dressed in his traditional white caddie uniform sporting the green No. 31, Carl Jackson met Crenshaw on the upper-tier of the 18th green after Crenshaw had putt out for bogey. They locked into an extended embrace as a massive throng of spectators and green-jacketed Augusta National members looked on and applauded.
Asked what they said to each other in that moment, Jackson smiled. “We talked about loving each other. We said, ‘I love you,’” he said.
Crenshaw corroborated that account later. And he was met with extensive ovations all over the grounds Friday. But the applause on 18 was special. It began the moment the scoreboard keepers placed the placard bearing his name underneath the slot marked “Thru 11.” The spectators stood from that instant until Crenshaw finally putted out for yet another bogey. Thunder from an oncoming storm rumbled throughout his final three shots.
Metaphors like that seemed to pop up all over the golf course for Crenshaw, none more alarming than the red-tailed hawk that he and playing partners Jason Duffner and Bill Haas found standing on the ground on the edge of the 12th green after they walked over Hogan’s bridge.
Crenshaw had to get past the hawk to make attempt a rare birdie attempt on the par-3 hole.
“Jason Dufner said, ‘Ben Hogan’s watching; you better make that putt,’” Crenshaw recalled with a chuckle. “Of course, I choked and missed it. But it was just surreal.”
Crenshaw didn’t make many putts this week, and that was the point of this being his last Masters tournament. He hit just 12 greens in regulation, made only three birdies and carded 25 bogeys, double bogeys and others.
It just wasn’t very becoming for a Hall of Fame golfer who won green jackets here in 1984 and 1995, finished second twice, tied with Sam Snead for the fifth-most Masters played in history and recorded 19 career PGA Tour victories.
“My God, it was way past time for me,” said the 63-year-old Texan. “This place has meant to world to me.”
Crenshaw said the only golf he will play from now on will be for fun with his wife and other friends. And said he’ll look forward to coming back to Augusta to root on the next generation of golf greats.
“Julie and I are going to try to find the seat in the house next year and watch,” he said.
Twenty-one-year-old Jordan Spieth, a fellow Texas Longhorn and close friend of the Crenshaw, just happens to be running away with this particular tournament. In fact, Spieth credits Crenshaw for much of his good work on the greens here this week.
“He gave me a little advice on putts, on where he thinks putts go versus where everyone else thinks putts go,” Spieth said. “I’d rather not share that. (He’s) been helpful, for sure.”
His legacy will certainly live on.
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