Don’t wait to do something: Sam Bennett didn’t as he lit up the Masters

US Amateur champion Sam Bennett stole the show on Thursday afternoon as he fired himself into contention with a superb bogey-free 68 at the Masters.

Bennett was simply magnificent during his opening round at Augusta National, but it wasn’t just his golf that had everyone talking about him.

Don’t wait to do something. The motto scribbled on his arm in tattoo form is a tribute to his late father who passed away from Alzheimers in 2020 – those were his last words to his son and boy did Bennett live by them on Thursday.

“Don’t wait to do something, head down,” said Bennett looking down at his arm. “That was by far the most locked in, focused I’ve been at a golf tournament. Maybe I should — you know, in college tournaments I’m on my phone sometimes. Maybe I should start putting my phone away and get more locked in.

“Yeah, I mean, I stayed patient, and me and coach were really dialed in to what we wanted to do out there.”

If people didn’t know who the amateur was they found out quickly as he birdied the first before he created some fireworks chipping in for eagle on the par-5 2nd.

Bennett held a long range effort for a birdie on six before three pars saw him tie the low front nine (32) by an amateur alongside Matt Kuchar and Ben Crenshaw.

From there, the youngster showed his mettle with several clutch up and downs and he didn’t seem to be fazed by what he was doing alongside defending champion and world number one Scottie Scheffler.

“I couldn’t have dreamed of a better start. Got out of the gates hot and then made a good one on 6, and from 6 on played steady golf. Hit a lot of good shots, give myself some looks, kept it under the hole. Bogey-free, that’s something I love probably the most out of everything. To go around this place bogey-free is pretty cool.