DALLAS — If Jordan Spieth could take Frederik Andersen’s score from No. 12 at Augusta National, he’d have another green jacket in his closet.
Spieth arrived at the iconic par-3 in the middle of Amen Corner with the lead on the final day of the 2016 Masters and dumped two balls into Rae’s Creek. He never recovered.
When Andersen reached that tee during a once-in-a-lifetime experience with three Toronto Maple Leafs teammates last week, he knocked his approach on the green … and rolled in the birdie.
“I made a fairly good putt,” said Andersen.
That was the highlight of the two days the Leafs goalie/resident golf nut spent playing at Augusta. During his first trip through Amen Corner, he saw teammate Kasperi Kapanen hit an approach to three feet at No. 12 — known as one of the more intimidating shots on the course.
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“I think the group that went, we’ll probably be pretty obnoxious to watch the Masters with once we get there [in April],” said Andersen. “That’s definitely some fun memories. Just the whole experience, I think seeing how pristine the whole course is at this time of year even, yeah, it was pretty amazing.”
Augusta is one of the most exclusive courses in the world, even for well-heeled professional athletes. You can’t buy your way on. Instead, you need to be invited as a personal guest of one of the roughly 300 members at the club.
The Leafs invitation was secured by William Nylander, who didn’t initially understand how valuable it was.
“Just a guy that I know threw it out there that we could maybe go play sometime,” said Nylander. “I didn’t realize how special it was to play there at the time and then when I started talking to the boys I found out how special it was.
“We got on there real quick.”
Nylander opted to bring his regular Leafs foursome: Andersen, Kapanen and Jake Muzzin.
None of the players disclosed what they shot, but Muzzin posted the best round among the group.
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“Muzz had a good [score],” said Andersen. “He played well. He’s a little bit better than the rest of us.”
“I knew it was going to be hard and I knew I was going to shoot around … I don’t even want to tell you guys what I shot around,” said Kapanen. “It’s just amazing that we got to experience that.”
The Leafs players scoped out some of the great shots they’ve seen on TV from the Masters over the years. They walked over to the area behind the 16th green where Tiger Woods famously chipped in to win the tournament in 2005. And Andersen was impressed with the conservative way Woods played the tough 18th hole during his victory last year, noting that it’s not one where you can make an easy par.
Golf is a favourite pastime for a number of Leafs.
Before doing a media scrum in Nashville on Sunday, Muzzin asked reporters for an update on who’d won the Farmers Insurance Open event on the PGA Tour. And Auston Matthews listed his first ever sub-80 round as his personal highlight from last summer.
Nylander loved Augusta National so much that he ended up extending his trip an extra day to play it for a third time, getting rewarded with a round where he made three birdies.
“I was hitting the ball pretty good that day,” he said. “Now it’ll be fun watching the tournament when they’re playing it. It’ll be pretty cool.”
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