A History of Virginians
at the Masters
by CHRIS LANG
Amateur champion Billy Hurley III, who
made his lone Masters appearance in 2017.
Griffin, the 2015 Delta Dental State Open
of Virginia champion, has plenty to live up
to in that regard. What follows is a ranking
of the top Virginians who have competed
in the Masters. For the purpose of this
exercise, we’ll exclude Marc Leishman,
who owns a house at Bayville Golf Club in
Virginia Beach but is a native of Australia.
T5
LEW WORSHAM
Appearances: 16 | Top 10s: 3
Best finish: T3 (1951)
The 1947 U.S. Open champion, Worsham
had the best of his Masters showings in
1951, when he entered the weekend at
2 under par, just a stroke back of leader
Skee Riegel. Worsham went 72-72 on the
weekend, which was not enough to keep up
with Ben Hogan, who surged with a Sunday
68 to win the first of his two Masters titles.
T5
VINNY GILES
Appearances: 9
Best finish: T22 (1968)
Giles earned his spot in the rankings thanks
to runner-up finish at the 1967 U.S. Amateur.
A second-year law-student at the University
of Virginia at the time, he shot 71 in the
opening round and found himself as the only
amateur inside the top 10, along with the
likes of Jack Nicklaus, Raymond Floyd and
Lee Trevino. In the end, he tied for 22nd to
earn low amateur honors, and he made three
cuts in nine Masters trips—all as an amateur.
34
2020 Masters. The invitation was a fore-
gone conclusion after Griffin’s Houston
Open victory in October. Still, to actually
hold the card-stock invite was a #dream-
cometrue, he tweeted.
Griffin joins an impressive list of players
with longtime Virginia roots to make his
way to Georgia, the last being past VSGA
V I R G I N I A G O L F E R | M A R C H / A P R I L 2 0 2 0
4
J.C. SNEAD
Appearances: 13 | Top 10s: 2
Best finish: 2 (1973)
In 1973, Snead entered the weekend in
a four-way tie for the lead with eventual
champion Tommy Aaron, Gay Brewer
and Bob Dickson. A third-round 73 left
him tied for second, three strokes back
of leader Peter Oosterhuis going into the
final round. Snead, however, was up to the
chase. He opened the final round—pushed
to Monday due to heavy rain—with a bird-
vsga.org
O
n Dec. 23, 2019, Lanto Griffin
posted an image to Twitter with
the simple caption: “This better
not be a counterfeit invitation.”
The invitation, of course, was from
Augusta National Golf Club, offering the
31-year-old Virginia Commonwealth
University alum a spot in the field for the
Lanto Griffin with girlfriend Maya
after winning the Houston Open.