‘Complete baller’: Tracking the Masters’ mysterious new marker

AUGUSTA, Ga. — At 12:10 p.m. on Saturday, the first Masters pairing arrived to the 11th green. But to the untrained eye, something was off: only one name, that of Tom Kim, was on that big leaderboard in Amen Corner.

Two women watching were puzzled. Who was the other guy? Perhaps an amateur, they thought. Or maybe it was just a friend walking. But this mystery man had a caddie, too — although there was no name on the back of his caddie’s jumpsuit. They looked at their tee sheet. That was no help. They put their heads down and paged through their handy spectator guides.

Stumped, they finally gave up and asked a nearby reporter.

“Well,” I started, “his name is Michael McDermott, he’s a member here, and he’s called on to play as a Masters marker when an odd number of players make the cut. So he’s playing with Tom Kim but won’t keep an official score.“

“Wow,” one replied. “What a wonderful opportunity.”

A wonderful opportunity is right! But there was more I didn’t tell them, notably this: That Michael McDermott can play. And he loves this stage, too. McDermott was hitting balls into the wind on the range on Friday afternoon when a friend walked by and asked if he was playing Saturday.

“I hope so,” he said. A few minutes later he grew tired of the wind and decided to hit some putts. A few hours after that, when 53 players made the cut, McDermott knew he was making his weekend debut.

He wore classic blue-and-white FootJoys with navy pants and an Augusta National belt. He wore an Augusta National-logoed quarter-zip on top of a striped Augusta National-logoed polo. And he wore an Augusta National-logoed navy hat. His club caddie toted — you guessed it — an Augusta National-logoed stand bag.

Kim said he was shocked to see how many patrons were on the first tee to watch them. He said it was more than Thursday.

“It almost felt like I was in the final group on Sunday,” he said. “So many people. I felt more nervous today than I did yesterday.”

The Masters marker is somewhat of a legend around here, a kind of golf folk hero, one who isn’t intimidated by playing alongside the game’s best players and has no problem keeping up.

McDermott first played in 2023, taking over the long-standing marker tradition from Jeff Knox. Kevin Na withdrew with an injury at the turn on Thursday of 2023 and Mike Weir played the second nine alone. McDermott stepped into action on Friday and played alongside the 2003 Masters champ. With an even number of players making the weekend, he wasn’t needed past that, and the same went for 2024. But now he’s back this year.

You won’t find much information about McDermott on the grounds. This club is tight-lipped — they won’t comment on him and McDermott doesn’t do interviews — and so are McDermott’s family and friends following him.

But if you dig a little you can find some bits, like that the 50-year-old father of three grew up playing at Llanerch Country Club outside of Philadelphia, home of the 1958 PGA Championship (won by Dow Finsterwald).

He played golf at St. Joseph’s University and is in the school’s athletic Hall of Fame. He was named the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Player of the Year five times from 2000 to 2008 and has even won the Crump Cup, often considered the premier mid-amateur and senior golf event on the amateur schedule. He played in the 2003 U.S. Amateur and beat future PGA Tour winner J.B. Holmes.

He lives in the Philadelphia area and is the chief executive officer of Kathmere Capital Management based out of Wayne, Pa. (Oh, and he also coaches youth basketball.)

McDermott’s GHIN handicap is +3 and he’s registered at Pennsylvania-based clubs Merion, Aronimink and The Club at Underbrook Farm. He’s also a member at Pine Valley in New Jersey, the top-rated golf course in the world.

Of course, he’s a member here, too, and he’s a stick that hits the ball a mile. There’s one famous story about him driving the par-4 11th green from the 400-yard member tees. On the par-4 10th on Saturday he outdrove Kim by about 40 yards — then three-putted for bogey. (No one is perfect.)

“He played great,” Kim said. “Hits the ball really far. His irons, sometimes he grabbed one club longer than me. He was a complete baller.”

McDermott doesn’t record an official score. His job is to keep things moving and not get in the way, which, it’s worth noting, is not easy to do when there’s hundreds of people watching. As one marshal succinctly put it: “It’s gotta be tough because you want to play quickly, but you also want to play well.”

McDermott did both. Although he picked up some holes, Kim says he still probably shot something in the 70s.

And with each hole, his legend grew. More people started to wonder who he was. Some patrons still think it’s Knox. Some actually knew his name. Word spreads fast around Augusta National.

Walking up to the 15th green, McDermott greeted a few patrons he knew outside the ropes and said, “How ’bout this day?” It was a good one to be Michael McDermott.

“He definitely helped just kind of the rhythm of golf, just going out and playing alone and having no momentum or not feeding off anyone,” said Kim post-round, as McDermott chatted with friends 15 feet away. “It was nice to be able to have a conversation down the fairway. I enjoyed it personally very much.”

A half-hour later, the leaders prepared to tee off on Saturday at the Masters. By then McDermott was in front of the clubhouse, already with his green jacket back on. But only for now.

He’s got another tee time on Sunday.