On Thursday, while at work, I logged onto the Masters website and looked at the leaderboard.
There was a guy named N. Smith at -2 and was 1 shot off of the lead. I send an email to a few friends of mine – “this guy is a financial advisor from Pittsburgh, and is 1 shot off of the lead at the Masters.”
After rolling in a 12 foot birdie put on the historic hole #12, Nathan Smith the 2009 U.S. Mid Amateur Champion and one of the 6 amateurs in the Masters field, was 1 shot back of the lead. Smith was even ahead of his playing partner 1998 Masters and U.S. Open Champion Mark O’Meara.
Unfortunately, 4 straight bogies on 13, 14, 15 & 16, put Nathan at +2 and he would finish the first round with a 74. He followed that up with a 75 on Friday and finished 5 over for the tourmanent, in a tie for 54th place and missed the cut by 2 strokes.
This was Nathan Smith’s second Master’s appearance – he also missed the cut in 2004. Not bad for a kid from the North Hills.
Here is an article from Gary Van Sickle on Nathan’s Masters warm-up.