Who Is Michael McDermott? The New Masters Marker

A new era was ushered in at Augusta National on day two of the 87th Masters after John McDermott officially took over the role as the tournament's non-playing marker.

The role was previously Jeff Knox's, with the American replaced in 2022 although the services of the non-playing marker have not yet been required - until now. 

McDermott would have expected that if he was needed, it would have been at the weekend, with the non-playing marker used for when an odd number of golfers make the cut. However, Mike Weir's playing partner Kevin Na withdrew after just nine holes of his first round so McDermott joined the Canadian on Friday.

The new Masters marker was dressed head-to-toe in Augusta National Golf Club merch and reportedly stepped up to the 1st tee and outdrove Weir by 30 yards with a 300-yarder as his first ever shot in his new role.

We also got a look at his brilliant swing, with a clip managing to make its way into Mike Weir's 'every shot shown' clips on the Masters website.

McDermott gets to play on Masters Sunday, too, due to just 53 participants in the final round following Tiger Woods' withdrawal. McDermott is playing with Keith Mitchell off the 10th tee.

McDermott is clearly a very fine player and apparently once drove the 11th green at Augusta National from the members' tees.

Not a great deal is known about him though, other than he is in his late-40s, hails from Pennsylvania and is a two-time winner of the Crump Cup - an elite amateur event held at the world famous Pine Valley Golf Club, where he is also a member.

He has big shoes to fill after Knox outscored a number of the world's best during his time as non-playing marker.

Knox reportedly holds the Augusta National course record of 61 (-11) and famously shot 70 to Rory McIlroy's 71 in the third round of the 2014 Masters. He started as non-playing marker back in 2002 and has made a big impression on some of the game's biggest names through the years.

“I’d take him over anyone in the world on these greens, hands down," Justin Thomas once said.

The world's best will be getting to know a lot more about Knox's replacement, Michael McDermott, over the coming years.