It was around 10:30 p.m., nearly five hours after the final putt dropped at the 2015 Masters Tournament.
The sport's most famous stage returned to its usual peacefulness, patrons long gone, after thousands witnessed a 21-year-old wunderkind steal the show.
As silence enveloped the property, Jordan Spieth had finally finished for the night.
He'd completed every task a Masters champion had to do in the wake of victory: signed his scorecard; received the green jacket in the Butler Cabin ceremony; accepted the same jacket in a ceremony on the practice green; spoke to the media and attended a clubhouse dinner in his honor with Augusta National members.
Through it all, he'd barely had a moment to reflect on exactly what he'd just accomplished.
Still draped in the green jacket, Spieth climbed into the passenger seat of his courtesy car with his agent, Jay Danzi, behind the wheel.
As they drove toward the exit, he reveled in the moment.
"I rolled down the windows and just started screaming," Spieth recalls. "I just started letting it out. Everything just drained out of me as we left Magnolia Lane."
One scream led to another. Then another. And another.
If anyone was still around, they could've heard it from the clubhouse as he left, echoing through the loblolly pines, and floating into the nearby streets of Augusta. For the first time since tapping in a bogey putt to shoot 2-under 70 and win by 4 strokes, Spieth finally let everything sink in. He was the second-youngest golfer to win the Masters, in only his second try.
"I just started to get chills," he remembers. "I entered this with so much heightened emotion. I had entered this street earlier in the day and now I'm going back out the way I wanted to."
Eighteen years earlier, when Tiger Woods won his first Masters title at just under the same age, it was hailed as the dawning of a new era in the sport, and for good reason: His victory bridged a cultural and generational divide that instantly helped lift golf. When Spieth won at 21, it hardly offered a similar impact -- he couldn't have the same cultural influence, and we had already witnessed a young Masters champion.
But some of this also stemmed from Spieth's impressive maturity level, something that will help him this week at Augusta when he returns as defending champ. He was 21, sure, but he played as if he were 31 and acted as if he were 41. It came as no surprise that he presented himself like a veteran major winner. Spieth was humble, gracious, thankful and completely in awe of his new prize.
Even with all of its robust resources, Augusta National doesn't have specific-sized green jackets awaiting each potential champion. Instead, a player wins and is offered one closest in fit of those available in the clubhouse.
The one given to Spieth was too big. It still is.
"I still haven't gotten it fitted," he says. "I just never wanted to take it in anywhere. It's a little big. It needs to be tapered. But I figure in the next 40 years, I'll probably fill out and fit into it."
Masters champions are allowed to take their green jacket off property for the year during their reign, after which it must remain housed in the Augusta locker room.
There exists no measurement for which winners have most enjoyed this perk, but Spieth might be on the short list of those who have logged the most frequent-flier miles with one. Even so, he wishes he had even more.
"I think I took a little bit for granted having the green jacket in my possession," he says. "I really took advantage of it to start and then it was in my closet for the longest of times. I really want it again so I can take it more. Not necessarily wear it more, but I feel like I could do more with it. I feel like I could take advantage of it a little bit more."
Sure, there are tangible advantages to carrying the game's most iconic piece of clothing from tournament to tournament, but for Spieth, it always has been more about what the prize represents.
"[When] I go in the closet to grab something, I see the jacket or the garment bag that says, 'Masters Champion 2015,' and it's just like, 'That's mine. Oh, shoot, I've got to give that back. Oh, wait, let's try to get this back in our hands,' " he says. "You sit there and you're like, 'I don't want that thing to go away.' It was fun having it with me this last year. I don't want it to stay on the grounds."
During each of his two Masters appearances, Spieth's team rented two houses not far from the course. There was Danzi's house, where friends and relatives would convene each night, eating meals together, playing games and generally providing a stress-free respite from the pressures of the tournament. Then there was Spieth's house, just down the block, where he was able to isolate himself and get some rest without any distractions.
As they drove from Augusta National on that final Sunday last year, Danzi pulled into the driveway of his house -- the party house -- where a throng of well-wishers awaited. It was just about everyone with whom Spieth was close. His parents, Shawn and Chris. Other family members. His girlfriend, Annie Verret. His caddie, Michael Greller. A few of his Jesuit Prep high school teammates, including Kyle McCartan, a senior on the team when Spieth was a freshman and someone he always considered a mentor.
Spieth quickly said hello to each of them, accepted their congratulations, and then left.
"I just wanted to shower," he says.
When he arrived at his house, he removed his green jacket for the first time, gently placing it down on the bed. Spieth showered, put the jacket back on and returned to the party.
Some 21-year-olds would reach such an early pinnacle in their careers, be surrounded by friends and family, have millions of dollars at their disposal and, well, the party might still be rocking nearly a year later. Then again, Spieth isn't most 21-year-olds.
"I'd already had a glass of champagne and a couple of beers," he says of the members' dinner before he left the club. "[At the party], I just had one tall drink. I didn't want to go crazy, I didn't want anything else. I just sat on the couch, just smiling the whole time, looking at everyone. I just had one drink and that was it."
Within hours, Spieth was on a whirlwind media tour around New York City, during which he gave more than two dozen interviews. When he arrived in Hilton Head for the RBC Heritage a few days later, he looked as if he needed a month of sleep just to catch up.
Instead, he finished in a share of 11th place that week, a precursor to how he'd follow that Masters title. Spieth won the U.S. Open and four more events during the year. He claimed the FedEx Cup and, including earnings from that windfall, pocketed more than $22 million. He was easily named the PGA Tour's player of the year.
It wasn't until the end of this bustling campaign that he would return to Augusta National. He now has been back a few times as a champion and maintains that it feels completely different.
"You just feel like it's your home course, almost, versus going somewhere that was like a dream," he says. "You go back and you feel like you're a member. You have a tab there, you can sign the caddie sheets, you can put dinner on you -- which is good and bad, considering the wine list. It just feels more comfortable. Obviously, the memories are there."
Some of those memories are already affixed to the walls.
"You go in the Champions Locker Room and there's the wedge and picture of the [flop shot on the final hole of the third round] and kind of a summary of what happened last year," continues Spieth, who shares a locker with four-time champion Arnold Palmer. "That's really, really cool to see."
He will return this week for his title defense. He'll again use that locker and revisit his memories right there on the wall.
He'll serve Texas barbecue for his champions' dinner and retire his green jacket to the clubhouse, only to be taken off premises again if he wins.
That's a difficult proposition. Only Woods has repeated as champion at Augusta National in the past quarter-century. But if Spieth is able to relive last year's magic and drive away with his green jacket draped across his shoulders, keep a careful ear out for some screaming coming from Magnolia Lane once again. There won't be any less emotion this time around.