Bennett, who is a senior at Texas A&M, saw his dream play out on a national stage.
MADISONVILLE, Texas — In 7th or 8th grade, Sam Bennett had an assignment for his art class.
The students were asked to paint their dream. Bennett knew his already: The 12th hole at Augusta National Golf Club, perhaps the most famous Par 3 in the most famous three-hole stretch of golf in the world, “Amen Corner.”
“And he said, ‘I’m going to play in The Masters,’” his mother, Stacy Bennett, said. “He was probably 12 or 13. And I was like, ‘OK.’ He’s like, ‘No, I’m serious.’ Like, he got mad. ‘No, I’m serious.’”
Bennett wasn’t lying.
The Texas A&M golfer last summer won the U.S. Amateur, punching his ticket to The Masters this year. He made quite the impression in Augusta last week, playing his way into the final group in Saturday’s third round and ultimately, finishing in a tie for 16th, at two-under.
Bennett, who is a senior at Texas A&M, saw his dream play out on a national stage. But the dream started in Madisonville, a town of about 4,400 between Houston and Dallas, tucked into the beltline of Texas.
“Small-town America,” said Jerry Hopkins, Bennett’s high school golf coach. “People know each other.”
And they all know Bennett, one of the top amateur golfers in the world.
Bennett’s journey started at the Fannin Oaks Golf Course, formerly the Oak Ridge Golf Club, a nine-hole track where a short white fence is all that distinguishes the rough from the horse pasture.
“Country club. A club in the country,” Stacy Bennett explained. “There’s nothing fancy about it.”
It was home on the range for Stacy, an English teacher at the junior high school, and her husband Mark, the town dentist.
“My boys are great men because their father was a great man,” Stacy Bennett said.
Stacy and Mark were born and raised in Madisonville. Their families were (and are) pillars of the community. They met in the milk line in elementary school and became friends. They reconnected after college and returned home to raise their three boys, Marcus, Jake and Sam.
“[Sam] may be little,” Stacy Bennett said, “like a little chihuahua. But he’s got a bulldog spirit. And he has always been like that.”
Although his father taught him the basics of golf, Sam is mostly self-taught.
Nevertheless, like the azaleas in April, Sam blossomed into a star for Madisonville High School and won the Class 4A state title his senior year.
Following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, Mac, Sam became an Aggie and committed to Texas A&M for college.
But in June 2021, Sam lost his father to early onset Alzheimer’s.
Mark was just 53 years old.
“And it took a good man away from us,” Stacy Bennett said. “Way too early.”
Mark’s final written words were a message to Sam: “Don’t wait to do something.”
Before his father passed away, Sam had the words tattooed on his left forearm.
Sam’s mom, Stacy, got a tattoo of her own, on her right wrist.
“It says, ‘until we meet again. M.L.B,’ Mark’s initials.”
In the wake of his father’s death, golf became Sam’s comfort zone.
“That was his way of getting out there and thinking, ‘I have no control over my dad and this disease. But by God, I know how to control my golf game. And I know how to control this little white ball.’”
In August, he won the U.S. Amateur, earning him an amateur spot in the 2023 Masters.
“I say it every time I’m gripping the club. It’s right there. ‘Don’t wait to do something.’”
With his father’s instructions printed on his lead arm, Sam did not wait one second, carding the lowest first-round score by an amateur in a Masters debut since 1956.
“He didn’t go just to have fun and sight-see,” Stacy Bennett said. “He wanted to win.”
Sam went shot for shot with some of the game’s best. His first round score of four-under equaled defending champion Scottie Scheffler and his 36-hole score of eight-under put him in solo third heading into the final two rounds.
“I had three screens going,” Hopkins said. “Because I’m gonna [sic] see every shot.”
Fatigue eventually crept in, as it does for most at Augusta. Still, Bennett finished the weekend in a tie for 16th at two-under.
Bennett accepted the title of low amateur and then flew back home to College Station on Sunday, arriving at the airport late.
“All the support from Madisonville,” he said. “Everybody made me feel at home and I felt really comfortable out there.”
The whole town of Madisonville is proud of their native son, for realizing the dream he painted a decade ago.
“Yep, dreams do come true,” Stacy Bennett said. “They do.”
Sam’s oldest brother, Marcus, along with numerous other relatives and friends, made the trip to Augusta to see their ‘Sammy Boy’ play Amen Corner on Easter Sunday.
A couple days later, Marcus was back at the “country club” in Madisonville, with his 3-year-old son, Jett. They were enjoying the game in its purest form, the same way Mark taught his boys how.
Sam will compete in the U.S. Open this summer, and then plans to turn pro later this year.
And no matter where his journey leads, one thing is for sure: Madisonville will be watching and cheering.
“As you’re leaving Madisonville,” Hopkins said, “the big marquee on the First United Methodist Church, reads, ‘God loves Madisonville … and Sam Bennett.”