Trip Kuehne is part of a big golfing family, but he doesn't let golf define him. (How/Getty Images)

He'll settle for that 72 he shot Friday at Augusta National, though. To play his final competitive round coming in a major championship gave this life-long amateur something to remember.

"It was a hell of a ride, but I guess this is the way it ends," said Kuehne, who made the decision to hang up his spikes prior to coming to the Masters. "I think this is the way you're supposed to ride away."

Kuehne had wanted to return to Augusta National ever since he played in 1995 after reaching the finals of the U.S. Amateur the previous year. He was 5 up with 12 holes remaining at TPC Sawgrass when a 17-year-old Tiger Woods began one of what have become his patented charges and earned the victory.

Kuehne was an All-American at Oklahoma State, one of the country's most respected programs. When he graduated, though, Kuehne decided not to turn pro, and it's a decision he has never regretted. HIs sister Kelli played on the LPGA Tour, and his brother Hank, who is engaged to Venus Williams, is a member of the PGA TOUR. Trip, though, manages a hedge fund at his company, Double EagleCapital. He's married and has a young son who watched his father Friday from outside the ropes.

By winning the U.S. Mid-Amateur last year, Kuehne finally got to go back to Augusta National. He earned a piece of crystal for his eagle at the 13th hole, too -- his lucky number, Kuehne said -- and shot even par to cap a brilliant career.

"It's the culmination of a dream," he said. "... I thought that if I could ever make it back to this tournament and in these situations and this golf course, that I could really foster the amateur game because I thought I could play well here.

"And with everything that this course means to amateur golf, with Bobby Jones and all the amateurs that they have historically had play in this tournament, to get the opportunity to represent all the amateurs that have never turned pro or just dreamed about being here, all the working people that have either just dreamed about playing Augusta National or coming to the Masters Tournament, to get to play and to represent those people, that's what I always wanted to do."