How to Shoot 62, Break the Masters Scoring Record Sunday at Augusta National

AUGUSTA, Ga. – This year’s Masters Tournament will be unlike any other, because this is the first time in history it will not take place in March or April.

Billy Horschel is playing for the sixth time in seven years. Most recently, Horschel was among the 30 qualifiers for September’s TOUR Championship, the last of three events in the PGA TOUR’s FedEx Cup Playoffs.

And as if 2020 could not get any stranger, a second golfer with a Gators connection made the field at Augusta National Golf Club. 

The mystery golfer? 

Albert, of course.

Albert studied the tape of every Masters final round available on YouTube, and constructed his game with one goal in mind: winning a green jacket.

Fascinated by the history of professional golf, Albert researched Gators alums who enjoyed successful PGA TOUR careers and teed it up at the Masters, eventually emerging from his deep dive and driving range sessions at Mark Bostick Golf Course as a composite of his discoveries. 

Albert can bomb it off the tee like Andy Bean, an 11-time winner on TOUR and consistently one of the longest hitters throughout the 1980s. In fact, Bean posted a TOUR-leading average of 278.2 yards off the tee in 1985. More importantly, Albert developed Chris DiMarco’s ball striking abilities, putting him in a lot of fairways and setting up an abundance of scoring chances via razor-sharp approaches. With such precision, DiMarco pushed Tiger Woods to a playoff at the 2005 Masters, even asking arguably the greatest golfer of all time whether he was tired of putting first in their Sunday pairing. Around the greens, Albert resembles two-time U.S. Open champion Andy North and Gary Koch, a six-time winner on TOUR regarded as one of the best putters of his era. Albert also took a couple lessons from Horschel, who finished among the top 30 putters on TOUR each of the last three seasons, and reached out to Ken Green.

A five-time winner on TOUR, Green debuted at the Masters in 1986 and estimated he made 300 feet of putts en route to an opening round lead. A great memory for a first-time Masters entrant like Albert to file away.

Albert also has his eyes on Augusta National Golf Club’s 18-hole scoring record of 63, which Nick Price (1986) and Greg Norman (1996) currently share.

Going low – especially the territory Albert wants to enter – requires a unique mentality. Having the game to string together a round in the low 60s is one thing. Staying calm and comfortable when a scoring record is in play, with the added element of managing the nerves down the stretch of a major championship, is something only a fraction of players can handle.

Luckily, Albert tapped into the mind of 1989 Open Championship winner and 1988 Masters runner-up Mark Calcavecchia.

Hardly anyone can match Calcavecchia’s track record of catching fire and conducting birdie trains. Calcavecchia set a record with a 7-under par 29 on the back nine Sunday of the 1992 Masters. In 2001, he tied the PGA TOUR record for the lowest 72-hole tournament score, winning the Phoenix Open at 28-under par. His 32 birdies that week remain tied for the TOUR’s 72-hole record. Calcavecchia is also one of two men in TOUR history to make nine consecutive birdies, a streak he ran off at the 2009 RBC Canadian Open.

Contending in and winning the Masters are two completely different things, and Albert knows it. That’s why Albert called Tommy Aaron, the only Gators alum to win the Masters. Not only did Aaron win the 1973 Masters, he is the oldest player in history to make the 36-hole cut, a record he set as a 63-year-old at the 2000 Masters. 

The Masters takes great pride in its tradition, making years of course knowledge an invaluable asset at Augusta National. Players know exactly what to expect here. It’s why savvy veterans make their way into contention time and time again. Without any firsthand experiences to lean on, Albert needed an established caddie with plenty of them. 

Enter Paul Tesori.

For those unfamiliar, Tesori spent the last 21 years as a PGA TOUR caddie. A member of Florida’s 1993 national title team, Tesori worked for former world No. 1 Vijay Singh, who won the 2000 Masters prior to their time together. Currently, Tesori is in his 11th season with Webb Simpson, best known for his 2012 U.S. Open victory. At last year’s Masters, Simpson shot an 8-under par 64 Saturday and put himself in the next-to-last pairing Sunday. No one else made Albert’s short list for this gig.

The last thing Albert needed was an invitation.

Impossible, right? Well, let’s just say Albert knows a guy.

Fortunately for Albert, he kept in touch with Fred Ridley, a member of the Gators’ 1973 national championship squad. A year after Ridley (pictured below) won the 1975 U.S. Amateur, he played in his first of three consecutive Masters as an amateur. Back in October 2017, Ridley became chairman of Augusta National and the Masters.

Although all the stars aligned prior to the tournament, Albert enters Sunday’s final round well behind the leaders. He is an afterthought on a leaderboard loaded with star power and those savvy Masters veterans. Albert knows there is only one way to put himself in position to wear the green jacket. Going through his warmup routine at the driving range, Albert turns to Tesori, outfitted in one of the club’s white jumpsuits. 

“It's 62, or bust,” Albert declares.

Once the two Gators stroll to the first tee, Albert puts a peg in the ground, sets a Titleist Pro V1 on top of it, and the starter announces, “Fore, please! Albert E. Gator, now driving.”

The following hole-by-hole breakdown of Augusta National, as well as Albert’s pursuit of history are firsthand accounts told entirely by Tesori.

No. 1 (Tea Olive), Par 4, 445 yards

Tee to Green: It’s a hole that throughout time, as guys have gotten longer, the folks at Augusta pinched the fairway in a little more. With a regular wind, you’re going to hit driver. Some of the longer guys hit 3-wood. But in a perfect world, you hit driver down the middle, and have somewhere around 145 yards to the front.

Pin Placement: You usually see one of two Sunday pins: front left, which is one of the hardest pins on the entire golf course, or middle right.

If it’s the front left pin, you’re trying to hit it to 40 feet, two-putt, and run out with your four.

If the pin is on the right (like the screenshot below), there’s a little bowl. You’re probably trying to land it about 15 or 16 yards on and, if you cover the false front, you’ve got 10 more yards to the top of the backstop. That’s a lot of room. When they give you this flag and you hit a good drive, you expect to have a putt inside 15 feet for birdie. If you’re sitting a few shots back, it’s a good time to get something going with a birdie.

Albert’s Score: Birdie – 1-under par through one hole.

Our boy Albert started with a nice little driver, 7-iron into the bowl pin to about 12 feet (sort of like this), and knocked in a birdie putt.

No. 2 (Pink Dogwood), Par 5, 575 yards

Tee to Green: Hitting a comfortable tee shot is all wind dependent. We’ve got a November Masters, so there should be a little north influence, which means it’ll be downwind and play a little easier. If you get the usual left-to-right wind on the tee box, it can be quite difficult, because you have to hug the tree line down the left side.

A good drive here leaves about 255 to the front. It actually plays more like 245 since it’s a little downhill. There are really no bad spots to miss your second shot. Even if you don’t hit a good drive, you can lay up and it’s still a fairly accessible wedge pin.

You expect to make birdie here, especially if you’re chasing. If you don’t make a four, you’ll walk away feeling like you lost one to the field.

Pin Placement: They don’t like to change this one very often. We are going to see that back right pin location. It’s between 28 and 30 yards on, and about three from the right side.

Ideally, you play it 245 to the front, hit it about 255 yards, and ride this crescent-shaped, left-to-right slope all the way back to the traditional Sunday pin (like this). But even if you catch the slope and set up an eagle opportunity, people frequently miss that putt and settle for birdie.

That’s because you can have a putt here which is fairly straight, but since the greens are so fast, instead of playing the putt two balls outside the right, you might be two feet outside the right. It’s tricky to match up the read and speed.

Albert’s Score: Birdie – 2-under par through two holes.

Albert hit a good tee shot and took 3-wood into this green to ensure he caught the slope. Although his second shot ran just off the back, Albert rolled a good putt inside of three feet and left himself a tap in for a birdie-birdie start.

No. 3 (Flowering Peach), Par 4, 350 yards

Tee to Green: There are two tee shots to choose from here.

One is to leave it short of all the bunkers down the left-hand side, which is about a 230-yard shot. This is a popular choice if there’s either a lot of wind, or if there is discomfort with the pin location. This play leaves about 130 yards (plus a slight five-yard uphill adjustment) to the front. Basically, a pitching wedge, or a 9-iron, depending on the pin.

The second choice is to take the bunkers on. I favor this because the fairway is still plenty wide (about 33 yards), and a good 250-yard tee shot puts you 100 yards out. That gives you a sand wedge into a flag you can really go after.

Now, you could also hit driver down there and set up a 30- or 40-yard pitch. The problem is, if it’s dry, and given how they mow everything into the grain on those long fairways, it’s almost impossible to judge the bounce of the pitch shot. You’re most likely going to bump it over the green (like this) because you don’t want to leave it short and have the ball come right back to you. About the only time you’d consider this play would be if it’s really wet, or early in the morning, as the moisture makes the pitch a little easier to control.

Pin Placement: Typically, front left (11 yards on, five from the left). It sits just left of a ridge which leaves you with a right-to-left putt from the short side of it, or a left-to-right putt from the long side of it.

Depending on which side of the ridge you leave it, even if you’re pin high or just past the flag, you can be staring at one of the fastest or slowest putts on the golf course.

Albert’s Score: Birdie – 3-under par through three holes.

Albert went with option two, because it’s another hole where, if you get a good number, you expect to hit the approach shot inside 10 feet. Albert hit a great second shot in there to about eight feet, just past and right of the hole. That left a little left-to right putt, about a cup outside the hole, and he poured it in for a third straight birdie.

No. 4 (Flowering Crab Apple), Par 3, 240 yards

Tee to Green: This is one of those holes that is so difficult, and the green is so undulating it actually takes a lot of pressure off.

When the tees are back, you are just trying to miss it in the right spot. There are bunkers on both sides, and there is a ridge that runs across the green. It’s incredibly difficult to hit the ball on the right tier when you’re hitting anywhere from a 4-iron to a 3-wood, depending on the wind. All the numbers you’re going through on the tee box are based on your miss spots.

If you play this hole at 1-over par for the week, you’ve generally gained on the field.

Pin Placement: Up on the top tier. Last year, it was 29 yards from the front, and seven from the left side.

Even after a downhill adjustment subtracts 10 yards, that pin turns this into 250-yard par 3 from the tips. Hitting anywhere on the top tier or missing it in the right bunker are both okay, but anything over the green becomes really difficult. Same with the left bunker.

Albert’s Score: Par – 3-under par through four holes.

Albert put a 5-wood in the bag, knowing there would be so many long shots on the par 3s and par 5s this week. He striped it right at the flag, thought he reached the top tier, but it came up short and fed back to 25 feet. A great two-putt par kept his perfect start going.

No. 5 (Magnolia), Par 4, 495 yards

Tee to Green: This was already one of the three hardest holes on the golf course, and they recently added 40 yards just to make it more difficult. They also brought the fairway bunkers back toward the new tee box, which narrowed the landing area and really forced players into smarter, more conservative tee shots.

With the exception of about five guys, no one can carry the bunkers. From the tips, the carry is 320, uphill. Last year, Webb hit 3-wood to stay short of the bunkers and missed it a bit, which left a 231-yard second shot into a headwind.

A solid drive here still leaves over 200 yards to the hole. And it’s into probably the toughest green on the course. Andy North, a fellow Gator on site for ESPN’s television coverage, called it diabolical (e.g. - Tony Finau's putt last year). It’s guarded by a massive front that you can’t truly gauge at home on TV. It’s a monster. More putts are hit here in practice rounds than any other green, because it’s just tough to get a feel for how hard to hit them.

Pin Placement: They like to use the center-left pin come Sunday. A perfect shot is going to land somewhere around 15 yards on, trickle up to the fringe, and lead to a two-putt par.

Albert’s Score: Par – 3-under par through five holes.

Albert hit a solid drive, a 4-iron which trickled to the fringe, and made his four after a tester of a par putt. Pars at four and five are pretty elite Sunday at Augusta.

No. 6 (Juniper), Par 3, 180 yards

Tee to Green: Your mindset on this tee box throughout the week is entirely dependent on pin placement. There are three pins where you’ll take par and run, and there’s a front left pin guarded by a bunker which is actually the one you can attack.

It seems counterintuitive because it’s just over the bunker, but there are a couple slopes which allow you to throw it past, or right of the pin and allow the ball to work back to the hole. Plus, the front pin generally puts an 8-iron in most of these guys’ hands, compared to a 6-iron for the other locations.

There is a massive slope of about 15 feet in elevation. You can hit into this thing and have your ball run all the way back and off the green. From the top of the slope to the back edge, there are only 11 yards to work with. It’s a very small hitting area.

Pin Placement: Their typical Sunday pin is back right. They don’t get away from it too often. It’s usually between 16-20 yards on and, at most, five yards from the left slope.

If you get it going just a few yards left of the pin and catch the slope, the ball keeps running down the hill and about 70 feet away from the hole (like this), leaving a monster two-putt. Long and over the green makes for a difficult up and down. Probably a 50-50 chance. Missing short, the odds are probably even worse.

Albert’s Score: Par – 3-under par through six holes.

We expected a slight headwind, which made it a 6-iron for Albert; he hit a good one to about 20 feet for a two-putt par.

No. 7 (Pampas), Par 4, 450 yards

Tee to Green: When they started “Tiger Proofing” in the early 2000s, this hole underwent one of the more drastic alterations.

This used to be a fairly wide-open, driver-wedge hole. In fact, if it was downwind, players oftentimes laid back so they could put the right spin on the ball and have better control of it going into the green. That was when it was roughly 365 yards. In 2002, they made it 410 yards, but after the 2005 Masters they turned it into the 450-yard, tree-lined animal we have today. The fairway slopes left to right, and it’s only 26 yards wide, making this a pretty claustrophobic tee shot.

Look how different this view is in 1997 compared to 2019.

Pin Placement: Sunday’s pin is usually five from the front and six from the right. When you hit a good drive and have this pin, you expect to get the ball within six feet.

Someone usually holes out for eagle here. There are two ways to make it: go left of the flag and use the slope to wrap it around and bring it back, or go a little long and on a more direct line to bring it trickling back to the hole.

Albert’s Score: Birdie – 4-under par through seven holes.

Albert hit a good drive, had an 8-iron in, and hit it exactly where you’re supposed to – two yards left of the hole, four yards behind it – and let the slope bring it back to about five feet for his fourth birdie of the day.

No. 8 (Yellow Jasmine), Par 5, 570 yards

Tee to Green: This is a slightly downhill tee shot, followed by a completely blind uphill second shot. The fairway here is actually quite tight, mostly because of a large bunker down the right side. That thing is steep, it’s mean, and you don’t want any part of it.

The green is tucked around the end of the left tree line, though, so driving the ball down the center or right side of the fairway is essential. That brings the bunker into play, and there are only 29 yards between its edge and the left rough. The farther left you go off the tee, the tougher it is to position yourself for a birdie opportunity after the second shot.

The second shot is entirely dependent on the pin placement. They’ve got about five pins they use for the tournament. If the pin is front and centered, you cannot miss left. If it is anywhere on the right, you want to lay back and make sure you don’t lose your angle or ability to spin the ball.

The goal is to leave about a 50-yard shot so you can hit a controlled pitch with spin and give yourself a quality birdie putt.

Pin Placement: Almost always on the back third of the green, and oftentimes they tuck it on the left side (like the screenshot above). We will go with last year’s pin, which was slightly back and left, but closer to the center than anything else.

Albert’s Score: Birdie – 5-under par through eight holes.

After another good tee shot down the center of the fairway put him 285 yards out, Albert hit 3-wood and set himself up for that 50-yard shot off the right side of the Sunday pin. Albert pitched the little cut spinner to about eight feet, and all he had left for birdie was the uphill, right-to-left putt we wanted.

No. 9 (Carolina Cherry), Par 4, 460 yards

Tee to Green: It’s going to be downwind, but down out of the left. A little tougher tee shot than normal. You’re just trying to hit it down the right center of the fairway. It’s one of those holes where if it does trickle into the rough, it’s not that bad. As we know from Chris DiMarco's birdie in 2005.

More often than not, even after a good drive and with a 9-iron in hand, you are playing a relatively conservative approach shot because of how severe the slopes are on this green. There is also a greenside bunker sitting dangerously off the left side, and is one of the last places you want to short side yourself.

Pin Placement: This is another one of those famous Sunday pins. It is on the left side of the front half – about 11 yards on (three yards beyond the massive false front) and five from the left side.

Most birdies here come from the right side of this hole location, which leaves a right-to-left breaking putt along a slope you can be relatively aggressive with.

Albert’s Score: Birdie – 6-under par through nine holes, giving him a 30 for the front nine and moving him into a six-way tie with Johnny Miller (1975), Greg Norman (1988), K.J. Choi (2004), Phil Mickelson (2009), and Gary Woodland (2014) for the best front nine in Masters history.

Albert missed the fairway to the right by a few yards and caught a little bit of a jumper out of the first cut. His approach finished on the second tier and left him with a scary-fast downhill putt.

Thank goodness Albert and his caddie watched a lot of tape and did their homework in the practice rounds. They knew exactly what to do: putt the ball sideways (some 20 feet right of the hole) and allow gravity to do all the work. Sort of like Ian Poulter in 2012.

He hoped for a two-putt, but this one snuck in the right side and fell for a birdie. Definitely the first bonus of the round.

Making the Turn

The walk from nine to 10 is the first really distinct walk on the golf course. I view it as if you’re going from one golf course to another one.

The front side, it’s a difficult nine holes of golf, but there aren’t a lot of hazards. Every hole kind of gives you an out. You should always have a chance to make a par, no matter where you’ve hit it. As soon as you step on the 10th tee, you leave that aspect of the golf course behind.

Once you get to 11, the hazards start coming into play.

You can play a really good back nine and shoot 1- or 2-over par, but people sitting behind the leaders are going to be more aggressive and can shoot 4- or 5-under. Chasers can make up these large chunks of ground, because almost every hole on the back nine can be either glorious or disastrous. It is a really hard place to protect a lead.

Nerves start creeping in as you make the turn Sunday, too. Augusta is one of those historic places where the aura of the venue itself affects everyone in very different ways. Some guys are energized by it. Others buckle under the weight of it. That’s why it seems like no lead is safe here, and why nearly every year guys come charging out of nowhere and amplify the pressure the leaders are already dealing with.

The combination of those factors is why the narrative of the TV broadcast is so on point: the Masters isn’t truly underway until the final pairing reaches the 10th tee Sunday.

No. 10 (Camellia), Par 4, 495 yards

Tee to Green: One of the most iconic holes in golf.

Quite a bit downhill, and you need to turn it from right to left off the tee. There should be a nice north wind since it’s November, so this will be a 3-wood for a lot of the players. You just want to get it turning, hit it about 265 yards, and let it catch to slope to get another 30-40 yards of runout.

This is a hole where, if you miss the green, you have to miss on the proper side of the pin, or you cannot get up and down for par. If the pin is on the right, you cannot miss right, and vice versa.

Pin Placement: They manipulate this pin quite a bit, but it’s generally going to be a little back and a little left. 

Albert’s Score: Par – 6-under par through 10 holes.

Albert hit a 3-wood down the fairway and left himself with 182 yards to the front; he knocked a 6-iron to about 25 feet, and lagged one up the hill for a two-putt par.

This is where the nerves start to rise up. You go straight up the hill about 70 yards to the 11th tee, back into this chute, where you’re all by yourself as the journey through Amen Corner begins.

No. 11 (White Dogwood), Par 4, 505 yards

Tee to Green: Another monster. For a little while, guys were getting it down there for 7- and 8-irons. Those days are gone. They really turned this back into a daunting hole.

The wind should be down and out of the right, which will help a little bit. Tee shot is pretty mundane, in the sense you know what you’re doing. You can miss it left and be okay. But if you push it right at all, you’ll have to lay up and scramble for par. A whole row of pine trees line the right, and there are no real gaps. You just have to pitch out.

The second shot is a mid-iron with death left of the hole. With the pond sitting greenside left, you have to play the second shot off to the right. Ben Hogan, generally regarded as the best ball striker who ever lived, famously said if you ever hit the green here, it was a bad shot, meaning he always played right of the green.

Over the years, Augusta made the dip off the right part of the green a little steeper. If you have to chip or pitch from right of the green today, you’re playing it uphill onto a downhill green. Extremely difficult. It’s even harder when facing a right hole location.

Pin Placement: They snuggle it up against the left Sunday to effectively take away anything left of the center. This past year, it was sort of between a front- and center-left pin. Generally, you will see the back-left pin.

Albert’s Score: Bogey – 5-under par through 11 holes.

Albert started to feel the nerves, and followed Hogan’s advice as he played right of the green. The ball finished on the downslope, and just could not get it up and down for par from there. He gave one back here, but Albert saw it as a trade off for the bonus he picked up at No. 9.

No. 12 (Golden Bell), Par 3, 155 yards

Tee to Green: I think this is the best par 3 in golf.

The most important thing you’re doing here is praying the wind is calm. If there is no wind and you’re playing with your buddies on a Wednesday, it is about as easy as it gets. Even in the tournament, if there isn’t any wind, you’ll see guys attack this hole.

But there always seems to be this mysterious breeze you cannot quite gauge correctly, which can turn this into a nightmare hole for even the best players in the world. An example of what the wind can do here, three years ago, everyone in the group hit good 8-irons. One went in the front bunker, one hit it pin high, and the other hit it in the back junk. Those are the wind gusts you’re dealing with.

Last year, four of the last six guys who played the hole hit it in the water. The only two who didn’t? Tiger Woods, who won his fifth green jacket, and Webb.

More often than not, you can look at the final leaderboard and trace the outcome of the tournament back to this short par 3. It’s one of the most fascinating elements of the Masters.

Pin Placement: Front right. You’re not looking at this pin at all. Jack Nicklaus always said his goal was to hit it right over the middle of the short bunker.

Another counterintuitive play since you are hitting to the narrowest part of the green, but if you hit it long and in the back left bunker, you can get up and down from there. If you catch a gust and land in the front bunker, you can get it up and down. If you hit the right shot and land it on the green, you can make a two-putt par.

Albert’s Score: Par – 5-under par through 12 holes.

Albert followed Nicklaus’ and Woods’ game plan, hit 8-iron pin high, and two-putted from 45 feet. Nothing sexy. Nothing extraordinary. Just an easily forgettable, prudent play. Because if this hole makes your highlight reel, it likely means something went terribly wrong.

No. 13 (Azalea), Par 5, 510 yards

Tee to Green: The final hole of Amen Corner is another right-to-left tee shot. You want to put yourself right of center.

It’s an awkward tee shot because you know if you tug it 10 yards, you’re most likely going to hit a tree and come down in the creek, and if you bail out right, you’re virtually eliminating your opportunity to reach the green in two. This is where the present-day Augusta rough really makes a difference.

No. 13’s all-time scoring average is under par, so this is another one of those holes where failing to make a birdie means you’re ceding a shot to the field.

Pin Placement: Normally they use the center-right pin Sunday. Last year, it was front left, about six yards on, right in front of Rae’s Creek.

The middle-right flag is definitely a comforting hole location, because there are a number of misses which still leave you with a good chance of getting up and down for birdie.

Albert’s Score: Eagle – 7-under par through 13 holes.

Albert got aggressive and played his drive left of center, which kept him in the fairway and shaved some distance off his second shot. With about 205 yards to the front, Albert hit a 3-iron to the center-right flag, landed it just past pin high, and the backstop brought it back to 12 feet.

This is probably the straightest putt at Augusta, and it seems like people miss it every single time. This was a case, again, where Albert and his caddie watched a lot of film, knew exactly what the read was, and poured it in for a three.

No. 14 (Chinese Fir), Par 4, 440 yards

Tee to Green: If you get a right-to-left wind, it’s a definite birdie opportunity for everyone in the field. You step up there and would not take a four. You’d go play it. 

This is a tremendous green, full of slope. And it’s one where the slopes can help you get close to pins. We see four different pins on this hole every year. Two of them you can get aggressive with, especially when you’ve got anything from an 8-iron to a wedge in hand.

Pin Placement: Like No. 7, they often use a hole-out pin on this green, one that leads to a lot of birdies. Last year, they didn’t use it. They had it back right instead. Still, as long as you hit a good drive, you’re looking at it like it’s a birdie opportunity because of how aggressive you can be with the approach shot.

Albert’s Score: Birdie – 8-under par through 14 holes.

Albert hit a good drive and had 152 yards to the top of the false front, 170 to the hole. That’s an 8-iron. Albert threw it up there about eight feet left of the flag and poured it right in the heart for birdie.

No. 15 (Firethorn), Par 5, 530 yards

Tee to Green: This is a wide fairway, but it’s not wide in terms of playability. If you hit a drive down the left center, you really get blocked out on the second shot. You can hit a big roper around the trees and reach the green, but it’ll be hard to stop it on the putting surface.

You’re trying to hit it down the right side of the fairway, and leave about 235 yards to the front. There are some moguls on the right side, and you’re hoping the ball finishes on a slight upslope, versus a slight downslope.

Pin Placement: Another one they change around, but each pin has seen its share of signature moments.

The spot from last year is probably the toughest – front left, just over the hazard – since it’s cut in a shallow landing area, and anything hit short or left of this flag means you’re flirting with disaster. It’s also one of the harder hole locations to shape a shot into and have it hold the green without bringing too much trouble into play.

Albert’s Score: Birdie – 9-under par through 15 holes.

Albert hit a good drive down the right, left himself with the yardage we hoped for. With about 248 yards to the hole, Albert was between a 5-wood and 3-iron, but he went with a smooth 5-wood into the left-to-right wind and put it about 25 feet right of the hole.

Another two-putt, and another birdie.

No. 16 (Redbud), Par 3, 170 yards

Tee to Green: While the 12th hole tests distance control, No. 16 tests accuracy. This is why the two par 3s on the back side at Augusta, I think, are the two best par 3s on any nine holes of golf in the world.

The green is busted into two different sections, and if you get it on the right one, you will feel really good about your ability to make a deuce. They stick with the familiar rotation of about five pin locations here throughout the week, and with the tee box being 40 yards long, they move the tees forward and backward to manipulate the distance.

When the pin is front right, you’re just trying to make three. Any pin on the top tier, par is a good number. The lower-tier pins are the ones where you go birdie hunting.

Pin Placement: Front left. The famous hole-in-one pin. 21 yards on, four yards from the left. If you hit the correct spot right of the flag, the slope funnels to the hole and produces a lot of scares.

Albert’s Score: Birdie – 10-under par through 16 holes.

With the wind out of the right and slightly into him, Albert hit 7-iron. He felt some nerves and played a little further right, away from the water. It looked for a second like Albert’s ball was stuck on the top tier, but it took its time, rolled back and missed the cup by about a foot. All he had left was an uphill five-footer for birdie.

No. 17 (Nandina), Par 4, 440 yards

Tee to Green: A lot like No. 7, the folks at Augusta pinched this fairway in and added large groups of trees to toughen this hole up through the years. Even without the famous Eisenhower Tree, the hole is a lot harder now than it used to be. You actually want to aim a little right of center. If you pull it left, you almost never have any kind of golf shot into the green. When you miss it right, you’re able to hit some kind of cut to get it there.

Pin Placement: They shuffle this one quite a bit. It was front and centered last year.

This pin looks so mundane from the fairway, but there are three tiers on this green, and if you’re on the wrong one, it’s a difficult two-putt.

Albert’s Score: Bogey – 9-under par through 17 holes.

The nerves kicked into high gear for Albert and he missed the fairway right. Even though he had a decent angle, Albert tried to cut the ball out of the rough, which proved too difficult. The cut 6-iron stayed too far out to the left, finished over the green, and could not stop his chip shot within eight feet of the hole. That left Albert with an oft-misread 10-footer for par, which he missed off the right edge.

No. 18 (Holly), Par 4, 465 yards

Tee to Green: The chute this tee box sits back in is so tight. Even if you’re not nervous, this tee shot makes you a little shaky. You know if you tug this shot, it’s going to hit a tree and go maybe 80 yards. If you miss it right, you cannot get home in two.

Now, it’s a pretty wide fairway. But it’s an intimidating tee shot.

It’s uphill the entire way, and with the cool, November wind in your face, this closing hole is going to be a beast. That will make it a lot longer into the green this year, which adds to the degree of difficulty.

Pin Placement: Front left, the iconic spot. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Masters without this pin.

Albert’s Score: Birdie – 10-under par, for a final score of 62.

Albert found the fairway and grabbed a 6-iron with about 190 yards left, knowing he could use the backstop to bring the ball back down if the adrenaline kicked in and added some distance. The ball almost reached the top of the slope, but it trickled back down and came to rest about 10 feet past the flag.

Albert knew the putt, because it robbed a couple Gators – Calcavecchia and DiMarco – of a green jacket. It was a downhill, right-to-left breaker that found the center of the jar. A fitting end to Albert’s historic round.

Aftermath

An emotional Albert hugs Tesori. They walk off the 18th green together, Albert’s arm over his caddie’s shoulders. As Albert shakes the hands of the members, volunteers, and professional golfers, all of whom are in awe of his record-breaking 62, he makes his way into the scorer’s area.

Completely overwhelmed by the thought of the green jacket, Albert makes a monumental mistake in his haste to meet with the media and celebrate. He signs his playing partner’s scorecard, but neglects the signing of his own. No one else notices either.

Another competitor’s closing birdie on the 72nd hole knocks Albert off the top of the leaderboard. Dejected, he heads for the airport.

When Albert’s scorecard is given to a member of the club’s competition committee for its inevitable framing and display in the clubhouse, the two men realize it is missing a signature. With Albert long gone, already on a flight to Gainesville, the committee is left with no choice but to disqualify him.

There will be no record of Albert’s 62, nor will there be an official record of his week at the Masters. The confusion will lead Augusta National to scrub any footage of Albert from its publicly-available final round broadcast. Video evidence of Albert’s 2020 Masters will be put on a single hard drive. It will eventually take on the life of the National Basketball Association’s previously unseen Michael Jordan footage. Those who watched it live will tell the story for years to come, turning it into an urban legend like Babe Ruth’s called shot.

One day, the time will be right to share Albert’s incredible round in a 30 for 30 documentary.

Until then, however, Albert’s 62 Sunday at the Masters is simply a fantasy.

Unless denoted otherwise, all screenshots credited to Augusta National Golf Club and Masters YouTube page. Screenshots and video link selections curated by Zach Dirlam.