Former Greyhound Austin Kaiser caddies at US Masters Tournament
Austin Kaiser and Xander Schauffele. Photo from Instagram.
–A dramatic finish at the US Masters in Augusta, Georgia Sunday involved local golf professional, Austin Kaiser. Hideki Matsuyama of Japan won the Masters tournament after getting serious pressure from Xander Schauffele in the final few holes. Schauffele’s caddie is Austin Kaiser, the former Atascadero Greyhound who played regularly at Chalk Mountain Golf Course in Atascadero. In college, Schauffele and Kaiser were teammates on the golf team at San Diego State University. After Schauffele turned pro, he asked Austin to caddie for him and they have done well together.
Schauffele’s shots closed the gap in the final few holes. He had birdies on four consecutive holes on the final nine, 12-15. Then on the 16th hole, Schauffele’s ball rolled into the lake and he triple-bogeyed. That dropped Schauffele from second to third. Matsuyama played well enough on the final two holes to win. Schauffele finished in a tie for third with Jordan Spieth.
Newcomer Will Zalatoris, who started playing golf in the Bay Area, finished runner-up. Zalatoris played for Wake Forest University before qualifying for the tour.
Two years ago, Schauffele finished second at the masters, one stroke behind masters winner, Tiger Woods. So he’s placed in the top three in two of the last three Masters tournaments.
Matsuyama won $2,070,000 in prize money. He’s the first player from Japan to win the Masters Tournament. Schaufffele took home $667,000.
