Tommy Aaron watches his tee shot on No. 9. He finished at 2-over par after two rounds to make the cut. He set the record for oldest man to make weekend play. (Ron Cockerille/Augusta Chronicle)
Aaron sets new cut standard
Web posted 04/07/00
``It makes me feel kind of old,'' Aaron said of his new honor. ``I'm kind of old right now and I'm tired.''
Faced with the last tee time of Friday's second round and two groups behind a throng following Tiger Woods, Aaron couldn't just focus on supplanting Gary Player (62 years, 5 months, 9 days in 1998) as the oldest player to make it to weekend play.
``People were moving chairs and the folks here were trying to clean up,'' said Aaron, a resident of Gainesville, Ga. ``I guess that's what you get when you're in the last group of the day. We played like that all day.''
Aaron, the 1973 Masters champion, wasn't bothered by an arthritic hip for the first two rounds. But his playing partners had difficulty - 68-year-old 1967 Masters champion Gay Brewer Jr. has bad knees, and 62-year-old 1971 Masters champion Charles Coody also has a bad hip. Coody finished 11-over and Brewer 18-over.
``I thought Gay was going to expire on just about every hole,'' Aaron said with a smile. ``I was about 50-60 yards ahead of them on just about every hole. I had to take my time.''
With the advance to the weekend, Aaron carried an old Masters tradition with him. Joe Collins, a 29-year Augusta National caddie, was the only one of three club caddies to remain on a bag. Tommie Smalley was working for Brewer and Jesse ``Gray'' Moore had U.S. Amateur runner-up Sung Yoon Kim of South Korea.
``I think it's a big accomplishment making it this far,'' said Collins, who caddied for Jim Jamieson in 1973, the year Aaron won his title. Jamieson finished third.
Aaron said making the cut was not a goal, but something to be cherished. He even beat tournament favorite Woods by one stroke, something he hadn't considered when queried by a small group of reporters at day's end.
``That's the most asinine question I've ever heard,'' Aaron said. ``I have no response to that.''
