A 23-year-old golfer in the Masters has the last words his dad ever wrote tattooed on his arm
- Sam Bennett is an amateur golfer who qualified for the Masters Tournament this year.
- On his arm, he has a tattoo of the last words his dad ever wrote: "Don't wait to do something."
Sam Bennett, a 23-year-old amateur golfer who plays at Texas A&M University, is competing in this year's Masters, and he's carrying an important piece of advice from his late father with him.
Bennett has the last words his dad ever wrote tattooed on his forearm: "Don't wait to do something."
His father died in June 2021 due to early-onset Alzheimer's disease.
In an April 2023 interview, Bennett told the Golf Channel that he and his mom were gardening in June 2020 when his dad, Mark, walked over to them and simply said, "Don't wait to do something."
Bennett asked his mom if she could get her husband to write it down so Bennett could keep those words close by.
"It took him 15 minutes, because we had to show him how to write out every letter," Bennett told the Golf Channel.
According to Bennett's mom, that was the last thing he ever wrote.
"That's something he said that'll stick with me forever," Bennett said.
He later got a tattoo of his dad's writing. Beneath the quote, it also reads, "Pops — 6/12/2020."
His coach at A&M, Brian Kortan, said, "The message on his forearm talks about, get to doing it. And it's OK to chase something that's right in front of you. It relates perfectly to being intentional and not shying away from what you're really trying to do."
The tattoo also relates to Bennett's own feelings about Alzheimer's.
"For the longest, I lived my life scared just seeing what he went through," he said. "That just means don't be scared of anything you do."
Bennett followed in his dad's footsteps by attending Texas A&M. In 2022, he won the United States Amateur Championship, or the US Amateur, which qualified him for the Masters Tournament.
The Masters started Thursday, April 6, at Augusta National and will end on Sunday, April 9.