Golfer Sam Bennett Has Late Father's Last Written Words to Him Tattooed on His Arm: 'Stuck With Me'

The Texas A&M golfer was still in high school when his father was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's

When Sam Bennett competes in the 2023 Masters Tournament at Augusta National this week, he'll have one piece of advice in mind — "Don't wait to do something."

Those words of wisdom are tattooed on the 23-year-old golfer's arm as a tribute to his late father, who passed away after years of living with early-onset Alzheimer's.

Speaking to Golf Channel, Bennett, who is currently a fifth-year student at Texas A&M University, opened up about the emotional meaning behind the tattoo and the loss of his father, Mark.

After his father was diagnosed with the condition, Bennett said he was "just mad seeing my perfectly healthy dad get diagnosed with a deadly disease."

Bennett told the network he pondered why this was happening to his family at the time. "I was just like, why him? Why not somebody else?"

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The Madisonville, Texas native, who described his hometown as "small with a bunch of good folks," said he had a difficult time navigating the complicated emotions that came with his father's illness. "I wasn't in a good spot mentally," he said to Golf Channel. "I couldn't take it anymore, I felt like I was about to crawl out of my skin."

Bennett said he'd often take walks at night or call his golf coach at 5 a.m. when he couldn't sleep. "I couldn't really function," he revealed.

After sharing his struggles with his mom, Bennett began seeing a psychologist to manage his mental health and the grief from losing his father. "We meet weekly to this day to make everyday life a little bit easier," Bennett said.

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Before Mark passed, he said something to his son that would later mean more than either of them knew at the time. Bennett recalled the moment his father, who had been suffering from his condition for years at the time, said, "Don't wait to do something."

"That kind of stuck with me," Bennett said of his father's advice.

The golfer and his mother were able to help Mark write the words out in his own handwriting. "It took him 15 minutes because we had to show him how to write out every letter," he explained.

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Bennett continued, "For the longest, I lived my life scared just seeing what he went through. That just means don't be scared of anything you do."

Bennett's Texas A&M coach, Brian Kortan, told the Golf Channel that he's personally seen the way the tattoo has motivated his golfer. "The maturation process really came down to him understanding that he could do this without his dad," Kortan said.

"That he still had more to give, more that he wanted to do for himself. The message on his forearm talks about get to doing it and to chase something that's right in front of you. It relates perfectly to being intentional and not shying away from what you're really trying to do."

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