Chattanooga's Stephan Jaeger has enjoyed a trio of top 11 finishes this season as he prepares to compete in his second Masters Tournament
photo by Paul Payne
This time last year, Stephan Jaeger’s life was in chaos, but for all the right reasons. He had just won his first PGA Tour event in capturing the Texas Children’s Houston Open, which carried with it an invitation to participate in his first Masters Tournament.
But that brought with it a whirlwind week that allowed for little time to celebrate his victory. After coming home to Chattanooga from Houston for a couple of days, he headed to Georgia to get his first taste of Augusta National Golf Club with barely a week of preparation before the start of the Masters.
When you add into the equation that he needed to secure housing for his family in Augusta on such short notice while still coming off the emotional high of his first Tour win, it was a lot for the former Baylor School and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga product.
Jaeger wound up missing the cut by four shots after posting rounds of 74-80 for a two-day total of 10-over par154 after a solid start that left him at 1-under par through his opening 13 holes in his first Masters.
This year, Jaeger finds himself in a better frame of mind as he prepares for his second Masters Tournament that begins next Thursday where defending champion Scottie Scheffler seeks his third green jacket in the last four years.
“I'm not going to go down there and play an extra practice round this week like I did last year,” Jaeger said last Thursday. “I feel like going there and experiencing the golf course for the first time was awesome. But I’ve done it and I definitely know where to go, what to do, how it works. All these things definitely have me feeling a lot more comfortable this year, and I think that will help ease that - I don't call it nervousness – let’s just call it unfamiliarity.”
Jaeger earned his invitation by virtue of his position inside the Top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings. He currently stands at 42nd, having climbed 11 spots during this season that has seen him compete in ten events, missing only two cuts and currently ranked 38th in FedEx Cup points.
The native of Munich, Germany who arrived in Chattanooga as a 17-year-old to attend Baylor has finished in the top 11 three times – tied for 3rd at the Sony Open in Hawaii in January, tied for 6th at the Mexico Open in late February and an 11th place tie last weekend at the Texas Children’s Houston Open where he arrived as defending champion. He also had an impressive showing at the challenging Players Championship, finishing tied for 20th.
Jaeger hopes to benefit from his time in Augusta last year as he looks ahead to next week’s play.
“The first year you play in the Masters, you're like, ‘Wow, we've been dreaming of this for forever,’” Jaeger said. “I feel like that's normal. You talk to a lot of guys that do that, and the first time here can be overwhelming. You want to have all your family there and the other friends who have been supporting you over the years. You want to enjoy that first time, and you want to get everybody involved.
“We're taking it as another golf tournament this year. I'd like to prepare my best to win this golf tournament. So, that's where my mind's at now. Last year was a cool first experience where I learned a lot, but my thoughts now are to go out and win.”
This will be the ninth time Jaeger has competed in one of golf’s majors, with his win in Houston earning him an invite to all four events in 2024. He missed the cut in The Open Championship in addition to the Masters, and finished tied for 21st in the U.S. Open and 76th at the PGA Championship. In his other majors’ appearances, Jaeger has a T34 (2021), T60 (2017) and a missed cut (2014) in the U.S. Open and was T50 in the 2023 PGA Championship.
The solid start to Jaeger’s season, where he is exempt to compete in all of the Signature Events as a result of his stellar ’24 campaign, has seen a drastic improvement in many of his metrics over last year. He has risen from 61st to 24th in total strokes gained, climbed from 120th to 36th in approach to green, moved from 99th to 25th in putting and from 91st to 34th in scoring average. In addition, his current streak of 326 holes without a three-putt is tops on the PGA Tour, a feat that will surely be tested by Augusta National’s diabolical putting surfaces.
The one area where Jaeger has surrendered some ground is off the tee, a part of his repertoire that had become a strength after struggling with the driver for a number of years. After closing the ’24 season ranked 13th in total driving, Jaeger has fallen to 125th this year.
“Obviously, I would have liked to win one of the events that I was close to,” Jaeger said. “In Hawaii or Mexico, I had a really good chance in both of them. I just didn't get it done. I feel like I definitely left some stuff out there, but the consistency has been good this year. Even in my bad tournaments, I feel like they’ve turned into 20th, 36th and 11th. That’s kind of where I want to be. I want to be able to have a chance to win on the weeks I'm playing good, and then be able to scrape around and have decent finishes when I'm not playing that well.
“That's the name of this game, in a sense. If you get more consistent, all of a sudden you've got another chance to win. That's kind of the point of it.”
Being able to return to Houston as defending champion provided Jaeger with a special time of reflection last weekend.
“I got a lot of support from the fans that watched me win last year,” Jaeger said. “I heard them saying things like ‘Let's go win it again, champ,’ and all that stuff was really cool. It was awesome to experience that. And I felt like I did a decent job with my defense. It's obviously hard to win a tournament twice, especially two years in a row. But I played pretty nicely, and gave myself a chance.”
Jaeger’s invitation to the Masters was finalized after his finish in Houston due to his OWGR ranking, a validation of his consistency over the past year that brings a measure of satisfaction.
“Getting in (the Masters) is awesome, and it's always a goal,” Jaeger said. “You definitely want to be there. But I'm not playing to get into the top 15 in the world. I'm playing to win golf tournaments and to get better. There’s some satisfaction in knowing this is the byproduct of a solid year rather than one hot week.”
Having experienced the spectacle of last year’s Masters, Jaeger is ready to apply the wisdom he gleaned to this year’s tournament where he will be joined by fellow Baylor alum Harris English in the field.
“That golf course can get so difficult with the wind or tough pin placements,” Jaeger said. “You’ve just got to know the places where you can’t hit it. It’s definitely a golf course where you learn something new every time you play it. But also, you don't want to overthink it. We do this every week, and we know how to prepare for a golf tournament. So, we should be used to that.”
The 35-year-old Jaeger has learned to keep things in perspective, remaining focused on his preparation and his process that will produce favorable results rather than chasing titles. Plus, he is making sure that he allows plenty of time to spend with his wife, Shelby, as they are expecting another boy in July to join their 2 1/2-year-old son, Fritz, who is in the early stages of developing his own golf swing.
“He has a plastic club at home that he swings around, but I don't think it's necessarily for hitting a ball,” Jaeger said. “I think it's just for smacking things in general. I'm not worried about him wanting to do what his dad does. If it happens, it will occur naturally because he wants to, not because we expect him to.”
Paul Payne can be emailed at paulpayne6249@gmail.com