The gentle drive up the 330 yards of Magnolia Lane towards the Augusta National clubhouse tends to give those competing in The Masters the kind of chills that John Travolta used to harp on about in Grease.
For Robert MacIntyre, meanwhile, the short car journey got the foot tapping as well. The “teuchter music” of the Gunna Sound ceilidh band was the Oban man’s soundtrack of choice as he slowly trundled up this fabled strip of tarmac.
“I love Scottish ceilidh music and it was perfect for what I was doing,” said the 24-year-old Masters debutant with a smile.
Given that the Augusta greens are quicker than the Dashing White Sergeant on ice, it was perhaps all very fitting.
“The greens are brick hard and later on in the day they’ll get even firmer,” he reported of these daunting surfaces. “If you’re coming in to the green with a long club, the ball just ain’t stopping.
“We stood at the back of the 18th on Tuesday when we were doing stuff around the greens and watched some balls coming in. Only Tony Finau held the green out of the group of three players. Everyone else was landing it short or pin-high and it was just taking one bounce and going over the green.”
Compared to last year’s delayed Masters in November, which was punctuated by the sound of balls going “splat” on the soft, receptive greens, this week’s course conditions will be more like the Augusta we all know.
“I am trying to learn as fast as I can because if you don’t, you have no chance,” he said of this in-at-the-deep-end experience. “You can be hitting down a serious slope that’s like a wooden floor if you get out of position from the tee. But that’s part of the challenge.”
It is a challenge that MacIntyre is relishing. Augusta, with all its verdant, chocolate box perfection, is always easy on the eye. But did it suit MacIntyre’s golfing eye?
“The definition of the golf course is unbelievable,” he said. “You can see shots which is massive for me. I like to be able to see the shot shape that’s required.”
Some words of wisdom, timely advice and nod-and-a-wink tips from those in the know have been helping his preparation too.
“I played with Patrick Reed the other day and I’ve always got on well with him since I first played with him on the European Tour,” he added of the 2018 Masters champion. “He’s been great with me. Anything I need to ask him, I can ask and he’ll give me advice. Around this place, he’s not got a bad record, has he?
“He knows where, and where not, to go. There’s just little hidden things that Mikey [Mike Thomson, MacIntyre’s caddie] and I didn’t have a clue about. He [Reed] just told us little secrets. It’s been great and we’ll definitely use them this week.”
MacIntyre’s three-ball for the opening two rounds includes fellow left-hander, and the 2003 Masters champion, Mike Weir. “For a left-hander with a fade, the course is absolutely perfect,” said MacIntyre, who will have his mum and dad supporting him from the other side of the ropes. “But you’ve still got to hit the shots and hole the putts.
“I can see how it suits a left-hander visually, but it’s the man who hits the least bad shots that is probably going to win this week due to how firm the greens are.
“Accuracy is going to be rewarded. You can’t be in the rough. At the seventh hole, for example, it is such a tight tee shot and, if you are in the rough, you almost can’t hold the green. Beyond it, you have no chance of holding the green from the back bunker.
“If you hit a bad tee shot, it’s about trying to get it back in position. There’s no way you are going to go for a risky shot because if you do that and get in position Z, you are walking away with doubles and triples because of how quick the greens are.”
Having done all the golfing touristy things, and bought enough officially-branded merchandise to fill in McCaig’s Tower, MacIntyre is ready to get down to business.
Playing this week is, as he says, the fulfilment of “a little boy’s dream”, but MacIntyre is not here just to make up the numbers.
“I’ve worked hard to get where I am,” he said. “I’ve not just woken up one morning and got lucky. It’s obviously really special to be here but I work my ass off every time I’m practising. It’s not by luck, this. It’s by hard work.”
That hard work gets its reward today as MacIntyre’s Masters dream becomes a reality.
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