Larry Mize and Sandy Lyle say farewell to Masters

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - For Augusta’s hometown guy and 1987 Masters champion Larry Mize, Saturday was an emotional day.

He finished his last round ever as a competitor at Augusta National.

“It’s just unbelievable, surreal. Words don’t do it justice to have won here and played here for 40 years. Pretty incredible,” he said.

“I mean, the fans were great. To get a reception like that and weather like this, I didn’t expect that. I didn’t expect that at all.”

It’s also the last Masters for Scotland’s Sandy Lyle.

He has 41 appearances at the Masters.

But earlier this week, the 1988 champion announced his retirement from professional golf.

And so the walk up 18 has been an emotional one.

Lyle held his hand to his heart as he thanked the patrons.

He said:

“A lot of ‘em have been coming here for many, many years. I’ve probably been a few miserable times that I come off the 18th and I want to go and bang my head into a wall somewhere. But other times it’s been great. They have been very supportive. And more noticeable probably yesterday they all stood up coming up the 18th and Jason Kokrak stood by the green and clapped for me all the way from there. So they’re nice memories and I’m going away with, going home with a good feeling.”

Lyle was the first Brit to win the green jacket.

His career includes six PGA Tour wins and 18 international wins.

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