Trio of Deacs to Take Part in 89th Masters Tournament
4/9/2025 4:26:00 PM | Men's Golf
Evan Beck will be making his first Masters appearance of his career.
AUGUSTA, Ga.- Three Wake Forest men's golf alumni are scheduled to take part in the 89th Masters at Augusta National Golf Club from Thursday, April 10 to Sunday, April 13.
The Demon Deacons will be well represented with Cameron Young, Will Zalatoris and amateur Evan Beck taking part of the 95-player field this week.
Beck will be making his first Masters appearance of his career. Zalatoris will be making his fifth appearance at the Masters this week and Young will be making his fourth appearance at the tournament.
Beck's Masters Debut
Beck defeated Bobby Massa at the 43rd U.S. Mid-Amateur final at Kinloch Golf Club, earning an exemption into the 2025 Masters, 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club and likely a spot on next year's USA Walker Cup team.
The Virginia Beach, Va. native has racked up some mid-amateur trophies, winning the 2024 Coleman Invitational, 2024 George Thomas Invitational and recently making the final 16 at the Crump Cup.
Beck, who is ranked No. 2 in the AmateurGolf Mid-Am Rankings and No. 21 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking/WAGR, becomes the fourth player in U.S. Mid-Amateur history to play in consecutive finals, joining Jim Stuart (1990-91), George Zahringer (2001-02) and Nathan Smith (2009-10).
Recent Success
Last season, both Zalatoris and Young finished the 2024 Masters tied for ninth place.
At the 2023 Masters, Cameron Young had an impressive showing as he tied for seventh at six-under-par, his best Masters finish of his career.
In his debut at the tournament in 2021, Will Zalatoris Zalatoris nearly claimed his first green jacket. He was in contention all week and finished at 9-under-par from the tournament.
Thursday Tee Times
Group 3- Cameron Young, 8:02 a.m.
Group 6- Will Zalatoris, 8:35 a.m.
Group 20- Evan Beck, 11:21 a.m.
A History of Excellence at the Masters
Wake Forest golfers have a long and illustrious history at the Masters, which dates back to Billy Joe Patton in 1954, who nearly captured the title in his first Masters appearance as an amateur.
Patton came within one stroke of being in a three-man playoff with Ben Hogan and Sam Snead for the championship. His final round 71 included a hole-in-one on the par-3 sixth hole and a double bogey on the par-5 13th hole, when he tried to reach the green in two and put his ball into Rae's Creek.
The most famed member of Wake Forest golf, Arnold Palmer claimed four green jackets in his career and is one of just three golfers in the history of the tournament to have four or more Masters titles.
His first Masters – and first major title – came at the 1958 event and went on to win his next three green jackets over the next six years in 1960, 1962 and 1964. The 1964 title came by a six-stroke margin over Jack Nicklaus.
In 2004, he competed in the Masters Tournament for the last time, marking his 50th consecutive appearance in that event. At his death, he and Jack Nicklaus were the only two Masters champions to be regular members of Masters organizer Augusta National Golf Club, as opposed to the honorary membership the club grants to all Masters champions. Additionally, from 2007 until his death, Palmer served as an honorary starter for the Masters.
A host of other Demon Deacons have been close to winning the green jacket in Augusta. Lanny Wadkins, who won 21 times on the PGA Championship in 1977. Wadkins finished in the top three on three different occasions and inside of the top 20 in 11 different tournaments.
Curtis Strange finished inside of the top 10 on four different occasions including a runner-up appearance in 1985. Strange ended that tournament one stroke ahead of fellow Demon Deacon Jay Haas, who had five top-10s at the Masters including a third place finish in 1995.
In one of the more recent tournaments, Webb Simpson made a run towards the green jacket, tying for fifth at the 2019 Masters.
