On-Site Tuesday at the Masters

Well, I made it to work by 10 a.m. this morning. Actually, I was up writing in my hotel room by 7 a.m. and lost track of the time.

I am situated, now, at the Augusta National hotel room, parking spot, work location, Internet connection, and on-site at the 2009 Masters.

I experimented a little this morning and found a good back route to the course.

The best way is to approach is from the east on Broad Street, which goes into Calhoun, which turns into Washington Avenue right at the club, coming exactly the opposite direction than from Route 20 and the Washington Avenue exit the traffic was minimal.

The drive along Highland Avenue was spectacular, with beautiful homes, many with historic appeal and all the flowering trees and bushes. Doesn’t everybody have a Highland Avenue in their town?

Be sure to enjoy the spring, the feeling of new growth, catch that feeling again. God knows it's been a difficult winter, maybe the worse since the Great Depression at least financially wise.

Let's go back to golf and being on-site here at Augusta National. One may think of this club as being a little stogy, a little of the good old boys, but it is not. Actually, it seems to be quite the opposite, as it utilizes new technology for the Wednesday par-3 tournament. There will be a video camera on guide cables hovering over the eighth and ninth greens like NFL football.

Someday, maybe there will be a camera in the golf balls, so we can get a bird’s eye view as we gently descend towards the flagstick—or oh no the water!

Augusta National embraces people from all over the world. Just look at the young amateurs that have been invited to play and compete in the Masters.

There are five US amateur champions: Danny Lee of New Zealand; runner-up Drew Kittleson the FSU Seminole sophomore; US Public Links champion Jack Newman a junior from Michigan State and the first Spartan to play in the Masters.

British Amateur champion Reinier Saxton from Holland who won it on the Alisa course in Turnberry; Scotland site of this year’s Open Championship; and Steve Wilson the 39-year-old mid-Amateur champion, who owns a gas station in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

Speaking of “five,” which five is more impressive, five of the last six majors or five of the last eight Masters? Of course, the majors are, but for Tiger, the two majors or three Masters.

Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington have won five of the last six majors.

Woods won at the 2007 PGA Championship at Southern Hills over Woody Austin and the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in the Monday playoff win over Rocco Mediate.

Harrington won in the 2007 British Open at Carnoustie in a four-hole playoff win over Sergio Garcia, 2008 British Open at Royal Birkdale over Ian Poulter and Greg Norman, and the 2008 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills CC again over Garcia.

Only Immelman with his 2008 Masters win has challenged Woods and Harrington.  

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have won five of the last eight Masters. Woods won in 2001, 2002 and 2005. Mickelson won in 2004 and 2006. Who won the other three?

Canadian Mike Weir won in 2003, Zach Johnson won in 2007, and South African Trevor Immelman won last year in 2008.

Gary Player three-time winner of the Masters—1961, 1974, and 1978—announced that this is his last Masters.

Will he join four-time winner Arnold Palmer—1958, 1960, 1962 and 1964—as an honorary starter next year? The player will be 74 in November while Palmer will turn 80 in September.

What was his response when asked?  He said, “Of course I would.” His only concern—“I'll even exercise harder to make sure I out-drive Arnold.”

What about six-time winner Jack Nicklaus—1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975 and 1986—the third wheel of the “Big Three,” who will turn 70 next January? When will he join them so the “Big Three” can be reunited at Augusta National?

There were some great interviews today at Augusta National, as we look ahead to the shortened practice day on Wednesday and the par-3 tournament and the 73^rd edition of the Masters Tournament, beginning on Thursday.

Defending champion Trevor Immelman only the second South African to win the Masters, along with three-time winner Gary Player, spoke about the keys to success at Augusta National.

He said, “You've just got to be unflappable. You've got to be able to roll with the punches, and you've got to be able to believe in yourself when the chips are down, and just hang in there.”

Camillo Villegas is playing in his third Masters and has patiently prepared for a breakthrough performance, this year, similar to winning the BMW playoff event and the Tour Championship at the end of last year.

Villegas stated that “[i]n my life, everything has been a very slow process. I played a lot of junior golf. I had a chance to represent my country. Then I went to the University of Florida, and I was very focused on getting my degree, and everything happened slowly. Then I finally make a decision to turn pro, played my first year on the Nationwide, then  finally my second year, I got on the PGA TOUR. Everything has been like one step at a time.”

He went on to say, “We all want to win this tournament. We all want to have that jacket and make history. But again, it's a process. You've got to take it one step at a time and you've got to be patient. Things have to kind of fall on your side, and that's why I just take it one shot at a time.”

Danny Lee, the youngest ever US Amateur champion, is staying up in the Crow’s Nest on the grounds of Augusta National.

In February, the New Zealander won, again, at The Johnnie Walker Classic on the European Tour in Australia.

He’s looking for every edge to compete against the professionals in a major tournament, saying, “[g]reat history has been in there in that Crow's Nest, and I'm sleeping where Tiger slept, so that might help me play better.”

The amateur turning professional, after this week, when asked if he thought he could win the Masters come Sunday, was brutally and painfully honest.

Lee stated, “No. I'm having really bad nerves at the moment, seriously. All of the crowds yesterday, I was nervous, really shaking my clubs, and wasn't swinging properly. I've never seen that many crowds out there, and, you know, that many greatest—one of the greatest players playing in this tournament. I'm still nervous, and I'm trying to relax every time and trying to practice hard and see how it goes.”

On a side note, fellow New Zealander Michael Campbell defeated Tiger Woods to win a Major, the US Open at Pinehurst's No. 2 course. The same place Danny Lee won the US Amateur last August.

Two-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson thinks he can duplicate his last win here in 2006.

He stated, “I'm trying to hit the ball high and far to combat the length of the golf course. And I'll continue to attack pins with my iron game and rely on my short game for when I miss-fire. I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of what I want to do with the round with each shot, with each hole. I feel like I know the greens really well and I look forward to this event. I've also been playing well with a couple of wins earlier in the year.”

Mickelson, who will be 39 by the conclusion of this year’s US Open, renewed his five-year contract this week to play Callaway equipment.

Mickelson recounted, “I just felt like in the last five years I have won my Major championships, I have come closest to No. 1 in the rankings that I've ever been, and I felt like Callaway's support staff and the engineers and technicians have been a big part of that. This is an important part of my career now, these next five years, and I felt like I needed to continue to be with what I perceive as the best equipment on the market.”

Geoff Ogilvy, the 2006 US Open champion and two-time champion already this year, noted his difference in playing majors since winning at Winged Foot.

He stated, “Now when I turn up to Majors, I know I can win one; I know if I play well, I'll be competing in there on the weekend. I guess it's just, I went from thinking about winning Majors to knowing I can, and I come here—I don't know how you say that the right way, but more confident about it.”

Maybe Ogilvy will break through and be the first Aussie to win the Masters.

He said, “It probably wasn't a thing before the Shark nearly won it, every year it seemed like for a while. But it became big, when is an Australian going to win this tournament, when Greg was up there every year. It would be really nice. Australia would be pretty excited on Monday morning if one of us Australians won the tournament for sure.”

“There's plenty of guys who have got the game to win; to have the low score for four rounds around here, there's probably less guys who believe that they can do that.”

Ogilvy quickly stated “Tiger” when asked who was the best clutch putter of all time.

He went on to say, “Everyone is impressed but no one is surprised. He's never missed one yet and he doesn't know how to miss it.”

We all think of that putt on No. 18 at Torrey Pines in the US Open last year to force the playoff with Rocco Mediate, and the two he’s made now two years in a row at Bay Hill.

We all agree.

Woods, also the all-time best strategist and tactician in the game of golf, decided not to play a practice round on this, as Ogilvy described it, “freezing cold and quite windy” day.

Ogilvy went on to say, “Today, [I am] not going to go out there and play today, because I'm really not going to learn a whole lot; [these are weather] conditions we are not going to face all week. This looks more like a British Open press conference than it does a Masters press conference.”

As one of only three players to capture four or more green jackets, Jack Nicklaus has six and Arnold Palmer has four, Tiger reiterated his belief that the grand slam is “easily within reach.”

He stated, “I know I can do it. I've done it. It's hard for me to sit here and tell you that it can't be done, because I've done it before. It's just a matter of winning the right four at the right time. So hopefully it will start this week for me.”

Tiger has missed the last two Majors due to reconstructive ACL surgery on his left knee. Now he has a left leg to stand on. Mentally he downplays missing those majors from a competitive perspective.

He stated, “It feels the same. It feels like a day at any other major championship. Only difference is it's been a longer duration between majors for me.”

For us, though, it is like caddy Stevie Williams says, “It's just like we haven't left. It feels the same."  

We are happy it's springtime, it is Masters time!

Tiger will not win the par-3 contest tomorrow, since he is not going to play. I think he said the next time he will play will be when his daughter Sam Alexis will be on his bag.

Knowing Fuzzy Zoeller won the Masters the very first time he played in it and is a three-time major champion looking for his third in a row, Padraig Harrington was doubtful one of the newcomers like Rory McIlroy, no matter how thoroughly he prepares, could win on his first attempt.

Harrington said, “There's no point in going out there and playing 54 holes on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and covering every aspect of the golf course, because it just not going to happen. There's going to be some variables thrown up. It's always interesting, certainly I've found over the years, that the golf course plays substantially different Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, than it does Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. It's hard to believe how much it would change.”

It was a cold, cloudy, and windy day at Augusta National. The forecast calls for it to be warm, sunny, and calm for the tournament. Like Padraig said, practice rounds are practice rounds.

The tournament starts on Thursday. Let’s see who will win the 2009 Masters!

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer. He follows the PGA TOUR volunteering for the tournaments and working part time for NBC Sports, CBS Sports, and The Golf Channel. He resides in Jacksonville Beach, Florida near the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach. He enjoys pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it. He can be reached through his website www.MrHickoryGolf.net or by e-mailing him to [e-mail]