One Stadler makes, other misses cut at the Masters Tournament

Save for a phone call almost a year from now – Craig Stadler is done.

The 1982 Masters Tournament champion missed the cut for the seventh year in a row in what he said was his final Masters – unless he gets paired with his son Kevin, who is 1-under through the first two rounds.

“As far as I’m concerned, this is it,” said Stadler, 60. “I’m done. But if they call me weeks before and say, we want to pair you with Kevin, I would probably play. I’d think that’d be the only way.”

Kevin Stadler, 34, said he was surprised he wasn’t grouped with his father this year, though they did play together on practice days.

The younger Stadler got to 4-under at No. 5 Friday. Double bogey at No. 11 dropped him to 2-under, and he lost another stroke to finish in a tie for 10th.

“We sat there, and 11 was straight into the wind,” Kevin said. “I hit a 4-iron from about 200 yards. Then hit 9-iron on 12 when I was thinking I was probably going to be hitting 7-iron. I ended up hitting 9-iron there. The group behind us, I saw a ball splash that was 25 yards short of the green.”

Stadler kept his head up through the rough patch, even making his playing partners laugh after he came off the 14th tee.

“I just told them, I was asking them a question, I said I was probably better off hitting my second shot in the water than hitting it in the bunker,” Kevin said. “And they got a chuckle out of that. Figured I probably could have made 5 from the water instead of 6 from the trap.”

In Kevin’s six previous starts in majors, he had never finished in the top 50. He also missed the cut three times. But he got to 4-under through 10 holes Friday before the wind opposed him.

Craig Stadler made three birdies from Nos. 12-15 but finished 5-over for the round and 15-over for the tournament. Stadler said he will stick around to watch his son play.

He said he watched Kevin qualify for the Masters on television. As Kevin was playing at the Phoenix Open, Craig was following along from the house the two own in Ponte Vedra, Fla.

Craig reiterated that he thinks Augusta is a good fit for his son’s game.

“He’s driving the ball well, and he hits the ball nice and high with his irons, which is a very good combination around here,” he said. “Was I surprised to see him on the board? No. Do I wish he had a better back nine today? Yeah. He’s 1-under and probably top 10, top 15, something like that.”