The Masters: How a Former Notre Dame Athlete Made Unfortunate History at Augusta

Billy Casper originally attended Notre Dame for one semester on a golf scholarship but left school to pursue a professional golf career instead of remain in South Bend. That proved to be a wise decision as he'd go on to win over 50 PGA Tour events in his career, including the 1970 Masters that he won in memorable fashion.

Casper held off a charging Gary Player in Sunday's final round to finish one stroke ahead of the legend, but it still took a playoff for him to defeat Gene Littler and secure his green jacket.

Casper's winning share was $25,000 that day, hardly a drop in the bucket of the roughly $3.6 million this year's winner will take home. Casper winning that tournament however set him up for some unfortunate history on the same course decades later.

Billy Casper's Not-So-Great 2005 Masters Round

Casper took full advantage of his lifetime pass to play in the Masters, continuing to do so until 2005 when he was 73 years old. A historical round by tournament standards would be the way Casper ended his Masters career.

Casper didn't chase breaking 80 that day in Augusta, nor did he break 90 or 100. Instead, Buffalo Bill shot a brutal round of 106 that would be the worst round in the history of the tournament 20 years after the fact.

Billy Casper's First Round Scorecard:

6-5-5-5-6-5-5-6-6-7-7-3-6-4-6-14-5-5=106

Man, I can only imagine the things that were going through his mind two-thirds through the 14 he took on 16. That par-three 16th would also the most strokes on a single hole in tournament history, except Casper's record-setting round was never made official.

Following his merciful completion on the 18th hole that day Casper chose to not turn in his scorecard. As a result his round was never made official so you won't actually find the infamous round in any record book.

Now when you're enjoying your Pimento sandwiches while watching golf this weekend you can share that useful piece of trivia with your friends, and be sure to pour one out for Casper, who passed away in 2015 at 83 years old.