One of the more bamboozling traditions of the build up to The Masters is the release of the menu for the Champions Dinner.
By and large, this three-course chomp, slurp and burp-fest of Green Jacket winners often features such modest fare as macaroni cheese, cornbread, barbecue ribs or grilled chicken but, such is the level of gushing hyperbole about all things Augusta, it’s championed as the greatest carte du jour since the Medici wedding banquet.
While all and sundry were working themselves into a fankle about Dustin Johnson’s choice of filet mignon and miso-marinated sea bass with mash, Masters debutant Robert MacIntyre has had more pressing culinary concerns.
“We have found a place with a secret stash of caramel wafers so we’re doing fine,” said the Oban man of the discovery of this morale-boosting Scottish delicacy on US soil.
Augusta, of course, is the ultimate stop on MacIntyre’s seven-week American odyssey and it will provide plenty of food for thought.
“The reason we came here so early was to get settled instead of jumping straight it,” said MacIntyre, who was set to take his first drive up Magnolia Lane and into the grounds of this golfing Garden of Eden this weekend.
“It was just good to get in the area, and get the feeling of ‘wow, I’m here’ out of the way instead of arriving on the Sunday and going straight into it and there are buzzes all over the place.
“The excitement has not really hit me yet. It’s like playing a game of shinty. The build up is fine until the morning of what you are about to do and then the nerves start hitting you. This is exactly the same.
“I will be fine all the way until Stoddy (his manager) says, ‘okay, we are going into Augusta National now’ and then it will really hit me.
“At the end of the day, it’s Augusta National. It’s not just a normal, regular golf course. It’s somewhere that is so private that you normally can’t get on it.
“It’s special, so I am still going to feel a bit of shock all week. I don’t think that will ever go away.”
The official invitation to compete in the 85th edition of The Masters arrived in MacIntyre’s email last Monday. It was further proof of the strides the 24-year-old has made. He will now complete the set of men’s majors having already tasted an Open, a US Open and a US PGA Championship
“I gave the email a couple of looks to make sure it wasn’t a fraud one” he said. “We pick up the proper one when we get on site and it will be getting put in a frame.
“It was a huge sense of satisfaction when it arrived. And a weight of my shoulders too. I’ve been talking for a year and a half about getting into the top 50 of the world and The Masters so it was mission accomplished. Because it is a limited field, it’s the one major I thought I had the least chance of getting in to.
"At The Open, I could do something in a one off and qualify. But here, it’s down to merit. Either win on the PGA Tour or become one of the top 50 players on the planet. It’s not easy to do either of those things.
"This goal wasn’t going to be as easy to achieve as other targets I set myself so the satisfaction is greater and the nerves will be greater as well.”
Augusta National will certainly stir the senses and its abundant perils and pitfalls will challenge all aspects of MacIntyre’s game. Rather like a Deadly Nightshade, it’s lovely to look at but golfing ambitions can quickly be dealt a fatal blow. Find the wrong spot on those mind-mangling greens, for instance, and you’ll have a putt akin to caressing a ball down a marble slope.
“I was hitting it really nicely tee to green at the World Matchplay last week,” said the world No 44 of a sturdy showing which led to him topping a round-robin group including the aforementioned Johnson. “But I didn’t hole much. In matchplay, the way I play, you need to hole them. When you knock in a putt it’s like sticking a dagger to your opponent. But I wasn’t doing that. It was just mainly not getting the pace. Pace putting this week is going to be a big key.”
Only three rookies have ever won The Masters and the last of those was Fuzzy Zoeller back in 1979. MacIntyre is not one for delving into the record books, mind you.
“I’ve got a useless memory for that kind of stuff,” he said. “I’ve obviously watched The Masters over the years but diving into its history? I was no use at history at school so I will be no use at that.”
MacIntyre’s golfing education now faces a major examination.
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