AUGUSTA, Ga. — For a brief flash, it was 1987 all over again for Larry Mize. The 62-year-old, 33 years removed from the 140-foot playoff chip-in that won him the Masters, popped onto the hand-turned leaderboards here once again.
Three straight birdies over his first four holes put him up there. "I did happen to see that," Mize said after his play was done. "Wow, that's kind of cool. I'd like to be there more often. It's always fun to see your name up on the leaderboard here. I'm sorry I couldn't keep it. But it was nice to come back and finish really well on the back nine. I played really solid coming in and really felt good."
Shooting 2-under par 70 Thursday, his lowest round here since 2009, his only under-par round in his last 30 rounds at this place, should feel really good.
Low scores abounded this day, so he was soon edged off the leaderboard. But the Columbus native and Georgia Tech man did at his advanced age put up six birdies and put himself in position to perhaps make the cut here again after missing it the last two years.
Bryson DeChambeau can make all the noise he wants off the tee. Mize will happily advocate for a healthy short game.
"I've been working really hard on my wedge game because I know I've got to hit wedges close to score," he said, crediting four of his birdies to his short iron play.
And, he added, "I've been working hard on my putting because I haven't been putting well. Got it going today and rolled it good. The greens are wonderful. If you hit good shots, you can make some putts. I think that was a lot of it right there."
