Mason Short would park around 4 a.m. and get ready to be shuttled to his job.

It was a special assignment, and because he had turned 16 years old, one he was allowed to do: litter crew at The Masters.

The four-star offensive tackle from up the road in Evans, Ga., was supervised by his offensive line coach, his old defensive coordinator and the defensive line coach at his high school. The job was, well, a lot of work. Lots of litter crew helpers were area football players. Lots of supervisors were area football coaches.

“They have their players because we’re all football players and we’ll listen to what our coaches say, not mess around,” Short said. “If we do mess around, we’re going to get punished for it later on.”

Long hours. Nine days. Rain. Heat. And while Short now has memories forever, maybe one year of all that manual labor is enough for him.

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“I appreciate my mom so much more now because I understand her frustration on me leaving stuff out because when I walk the course and I see a little piece of string we had to pick it up,” Short said.

Litter crew is a tough job - fit for a 6-foot-7, 295-pound four-star offensive tackle who committed to Alabama over Georgia and many other national programs in early April.

And those Dawgs fans who recognized him on the course in Augusta – less than two hours to Athens – didn’t let him forget they were none too pleased he was going to play for the Crimson Tide.

“All those Georgia fans were letting me know about it,” Short said. “I actually saw the old UGA O-line coach, coach (Matt) Luke. I don’t think he recognized me because I looked like an undercover cop because I don’t wear hats, my hair was in a bun and I had glasses on with my jacket and pants, some things I never wear. He walked right by me.

“A lot of people were asking me because of my size if I played football. Once I told them I’m going to ‘Bama, they weren’t too happy.”

The days were long for Short, who would get to the parking lot for employees about 30 minutes away in the wee hours and then be shuttled up in a sweet Mercedes Benz van to the course.

It was early morning and the sun was still down but work needed to be done. Phones weren’t allowed, so he and a teammate who were responsible for changing garbage bags in the Masters makeshift garbage cans painted to blend into the course had to use the lights on their watches to see what they were doing.

Through a 16-hour shift each day for nine days, Short estimated he and his partner changed about 100 garbage bags and walked about 15 miles in his “zone” - the 10th green, the 11th tee box and the 15th tee box. The incline on 11 for a big boy like Short was not an easy trek, but he did it over and over again.

“It’s way up there, and it’s awful,” Short said.

There was one area of respite, one opportunity for Short to put his feet up and relax a little bit. Between his area and the players’ parking lot is a wooded area where workers found some confiscated armrest chairs, the four-star set some up between patrols to clean out garbage cans and sneak in a quick snooze.

Or just sit for a few minutes. Near that area, he saw all the golfers’ cars and, man, were they nice.

“You see Lamborghinis and Ferraris back there,” Short said. “There’s not one bad car in that parking lot.”

Throughout the practice rounds and even late into the week leading into Saturday, Short’s patrols would last about 90 minutes. Make your rounds, pick up trash or anything visible on the ground, return to the wooded area and take a break.

And stay out of the cameraman’s view.

“We are told to try to be unnoticeable at all times,” Short said. “If someone is walking our way from 50 feet away we get out of the way ahead of time so they don’t even realize we are there.

“If a big group is coming, we’re told to get in the woods. The camera guys don’t like us because they have to get a shot of Tiger (Woods) putting in from somewhere and we’re in the background and we’re told to get out of the way.”

At $10 an hour, the workload is a tough ask, but Short needs the dough.

“I’m a broke high school student,” he said.

And the memories will last forever. It was tough, there were challenges and long hours and for a teenager maybe the worst part was not having access to his phone for nearly the entire day.

But lifelong memories were made during those days at immaculate Augusta, made unblemished in part because of all his hard work - rain or shine.

“I wish I could, I can’t describe it,” Short said. “I went last year to the Drive, Chip & Putt and I only saw the putting area. This year I was one of the ones making it look pretty - and it was unbelievable.”