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AUGUSTA — Byeong Hun An is only 33, not nearly old enough to remember the 1975 Masters. But he’s seen the video and knows what Jack Nicklaus did there 50 years ago. “It was before my time,” said An, who was playing in his sixth Masters this year.
“Yeah, I've seen the clip before.” During the final round of this year’s Masters, An got to experience the back-right hole location on No. 16 during the final round.
He made par after a “great two-putt.” “I think it's tougher hole location, obviously. You're not going to see as many birdies as left,” An said.
“It was unusual for me. I've never seen the flag there. I always watch TV, just left, you see a lot of birdies.
How the winner has been birdieing the 16th hole, I don't think that's going to happen (Sunday).” Justin Rose and Bryson DeChambeau were among the late finishers who birdied the 16th. Rory McIlroy, who beat Rose in a sudden-death playoff, made par.
Revisiting 1975 In 1975, Nicklaus was 40 feet short of the hole. He was locked into a three-man battle for the green jacket in the final round. Nicklaus stroked his putt toward the back-right hole location as his caddie Willie Peterson attended the flag.
His ball found the hole for an unlikely birdie, and the 16th hole erupted. Peterson jumped for joy. Nicklaus did a celebratory trot.
And Tom Weiskopf and Johnny Miller, his two foes, can only sit and watch. It’s the pivotal moment in another Nicklaus victory, his fifth at Augusta National. For the final round of the 2025 Masters, the tournament paid homage to 1975 by placing the Sunday hole location in a similar spot.
Typically, the Sunday hole location at No. 16 is back left. Twenty years ago, Tiger Woods holed his chip shot from behind the green to that back left pin.
And in 1986, Nicklaus almost holed his tee shot at No. 16 on his way to an unprecedented sixth Masters victory. ‘A good pin’ “It's a really tough hole,” An said.
“If you miss right, you're going to have a tough bunker shot. Yeah, 50 years ago it would have been an easier pin than this year because of how firm and fast the greens are, but it's not like it's unplayable.” The pin is usually in the back-right location earlier in the week, but this year it was saved for the final round.
“Yeah, it's way back in that corner,” 2015 winner Jordan Spieth said. “I think a lot of it had to do with it's normally a Friday pin, but then it was so windy Friday that I think they used one of the bowl ones instead.” In the final round, No.
16 yielded 10 birdies, 34 pars, seven bogeys and two double bogeys. It was the 10th-hardest hole for the round. “It's definitely playable because we always had a flag there I think one of those days,” An said.
“Even last year we had a little shorter and right of it. “It's just one of those flags, and it wasn't impossible to get pars. It was a good pin, but I was just surprised it wasn't like Saturday, Friday or Thursday.
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