AUGUSTA, Ga. — The score itself isn’t particularly impressive—a two-over 74.
But while the scorecard never lies, it does occasionally omit the full story. Because Jose Maria Olazabal’s round on Thursday at the Masters—on what would’ve been his dear friend Seve Ballesteros’ 69th birthday—was quite simply the best chipping display I’ve ever witnessed.
It had to be, too.
Olazabal is not spending his twilight years sharpening his game on the PGA Tour Champions.
The Masters each year has been his one and only foray into competitive golf each of the last six years.
He crams for it the week of—for the second consecutive year, no golfer has hit more range balls the week of the tournament than Olazabal.
His highest recorded ball speed on the range this week was 155 mph and his average was 153 mph—which is about the same as a respectable low single-digit handicap golfer.
Olazabal can’t reach all of Augusta National’s par-4s in regulation, and the ones he can require fairway woods.
So, first of all, you have to think about what will be the best side to miss, which side will give you the best chances to up-and-down, and you play from there.
Yet Olazabal beat Aldrich Potgieter, the longest hitter on the PGA Tour, by 10 shots on Thursday, and upstart Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen by three, thanks to a brilliant display with his wedge.
“My short game was really nice today,” Olazabal said. “It had to be in order to put a decent score, because I’m going to miss a lot of greens hitting woods onto the greens. As hard as the greens are, I know I’m going to miss a lot of greens.”
This is wild….
On the PGA Tour this season, Taylor Moore holds the record for the best short game in a round. He gained +4.1 shots in the opening round of the Cognizant Classic.
Today, at Augusta… 60-year-old Jose Maria Olazabal gained +5.0. pic.twitter.com/Cauk5HGgoZ
— Jamie Kennedy (@jamierkennedy) April 9, 2026
It started on the first hole. His scrappy, heeled drive traveled just 214 yards down the left side of the fairway. 230 yards left, he sent a 3-wood long of the green in search of the easiest up-and-down.
“I told my caddie on the first hole: ‘he had to hit it over the green, but watch this chip,'” Neergaard-Petersen said.
Moments after playing partner Potgieter skulled his wedge shot over the green, Olazabal stepped up to his, bumped his ball into the upslope, then watched it jump up and trickle down to a foot from the hole.
“The second he hit that chip I’m like, ‘okay, this shot is just perfect.’ I turned to my caddie and said, ‘how brilliant is that?'”
Brilliant was the only way to describe it.
From 30 yards short of the fifth, he bumped into a slope again and rolled it to seven feet, and made the putt.
From 27 yards on the ninth, he floated a wedge halfway to the hole then watched it roll to a foot.
From 50 yards on the 11th, Olazabal hit his worst chip of the day, running it out past the hole. But don’t worry, he made that putt, too.
The only chip he didn’t get up-and-down on was the 14th. The chip was fine—once again landed about halfway to the hole. The problem was the missed six-footer at the end of it.
Olazabal’s worst hole of the day came on the 15th. He spun his third shot back into the water, then his 5th from the drop zone over the green. But even that disappointing hole ended with a chip to within an inch of the hole.
Two more up-and-downs on 17th and 18th—both of those to within five feet, and he was in the house.
It was five greens-in-regulation in the end. He got up and down 10 of 11 times from grass, and one of two times from the sand.
“It was brilliant all day,” Neergaard-Petersen said. “I love it.”
You may have noticed the common thread in Olazabal’s chip shots: they landed about halfway to the hole, and rolled out like a putt.
This is slightly counter to the recent trend in golf. Pros have generally been gravitating towards shots that launch lower, carry over slopes, then check up aggressively with more spin. They do this by getting steeper—hitting down more severely on the ball.
Olazabal goes a different route. Chip shots that launch higher and roll along slopes.
“He’s super, super shallow,” Neergaard-Petersen said of Olazabal’s action. “You can see it in his practice swings. It’s almost like he’s tossing a ball onto the green underhanded, with so much touch.”
“I’ve chipped like that all my life,” Olazabal adds. “If I have the option, I will take that one. I’m not going to hit another shot if I do have plenty of green to work with. That’s my nature.”
Of course, there’s something else that helps him, too.
“I’ve been playing this golf course 37 years,” Olazabal said. “You know, that helps too, to be honest.”
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
