Masters Winner Says 2023 Augusta National Appearance Will Be His Last

Thirty-six years after stunning the golf world by beating Seve Ballesteros and Greg Norman in a playoff to win The Masters, Larry Mize has revealed that his 40th appearance in the tournament this year will be his last.

The 64-year-old, whose win ensured entry to the Augusta National event for life, revealed the news in an interview with Golf Digest. “This will be my last Masters. It’s time,” he said. "I’m 64 and the golf course is getting longer, and I have found that I have not gotten longer as I get older. It is a young man’s golf course, there’s no doubt.”

The iconic 13th hole has been lengthened in time for the 2023 event – the latest in a series of changes in recent years, including adding 35 yards to the length before last year's tournament. Given those changes, Mize revealed that playing off the member’s tees on a trip last November offered him more satisfaction. He said: “It’s such a great golf course, and from the member tees... boy, it’s a lot of fun. I love playing Augusta from the member tees. Anyone can play and enjoy it. It’s still a challenge, but it’s one I can handle.”

Despite the increasing length of the course making it harder for him to compete in The Masters, particularly nursing a back injury, Mize admitted the work was necessary. He said: “It’s what needed to be done. Augusta National has done a great job of making changes to keep up with technology. On some holes they’re hitting clubs that we used to hit in the '80s, so you know they are on the right track.”

Mize enjoyed 10 professional wins in his career and finished in the top 10 in two other Majors, but it is the manner of his Masters win that will define his career – a chip in from off the green at the 11th to claim victory. However, considering it’s remembered as one of the great Masters shots, he explained it’s not something he thinks about too often.

He said: “I probably don’t think about it as much as you think - or maybe as often as I should - but when someone brings it up, it’s always fun to think about and talk about. It’s been a tremendous blessing getting to go back to Augusta every April, plus all of the opportunities it has given me. It’s just been amazing.”

Nevertheless, Mize's triumph was particularly special as he used to work on the leaderboard as a teenager and is an Augusta native. In 2017, when marking the 30 year anniversary of the chip that won the Masters, he explained just how much it meant. He said: “It was an amazing thing just for me to get into the tournament and play here in the first place as a professional golfer. That is something in itself, but to win it, that was the golfing thrill of a lifetime for me."