Dick Mast was forced to rent a set of irons at an open qualifier for the PGA Tour Champions – but this didn’t prevent the 72-year-old going low…
The ability to compete in later life is one of golf’s many beauties.
The phrase “age is just a number” has never been more prevalent than in the case of Dick Mast.
This 72-year-old veteran has qualified for the Sanford International on the PGA Tour Champions by shooting 66 in an open qualifier – bettering his age by some margin.
But as Ryan French reported, Mast did so with a set of rental clubs after questioning if the Titleist irons he’d been practising with in the lead-up to the qualifier were conforming.
French wrote that Mast asked the Minnesota PGA section and the golf course if they had a groove tool to test if his club faces were legal, but there was no such tool around.
Mast went into the clubhouse at Bakker Crossing Golf Club in Sioux Falls and found another set of conforming Titleist irons but with a twist – they were standard length and his own irons were an inch and a half above standard length.
Dick Mast is 72 years old.
— Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1) September 12, 2023
Today he shot 66 and “Monday” qualified for the Champions Tour event.
The man is a legend. pic.twitter.com/voKxe495U8
Aiming to attack the course, Mast made four birdies in five holes on the back nine to card an outstanding five-under-par score, taking him into a three-way playoff for one spot at the senior tour event.
Mast boxed a 30-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to break the hearts of his opponents. His start at the Sanford International will be his 191st on the PGA Tour Champions.
A touching detail French reported was a group of Mast’s friends from Virginia raised the money to pay his qualifying fees for the last five qualifiers, and he now has his sights set on more tour activity.
“I wouldn’t be out here if I didn’t think I could,” Mast said. “My short game has always been good. If I get near the lead, I’m going to be like a dog on a raw meat bone.
“If I play well enough I can make the Charles Schwab Cup.”
The man from Bluffton, Ohio is a four-time winner on the Korn Ferry Tour and has played on the PGA Tour 360 times. His first-ever tour start came at the Andy Williams-San Diego Open in 1974.
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