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<\/p>\nFox League commentator Warren Smith got a priceless invitation to play Augusta National the day after Rory McIlroy the 2025 Masters. A year on, he reflects on the once-in-a-lifetime experience.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the first thing you do when you\u2019re handed an envelope containing an invitation to play Augusta National Golf Club?<\/p>\n
Yes, it may be 11.30pm at night back in Sydney, with those nearest to you likely to be sound asleep, but with the excitement rippling through you and a golden ticket in your hand, you pick up the phone and call the most important person in your life \u2013 your golf coach.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I\u2019m joking, of course, but it did cross my mind.<\/p>\n
I mean, it\u2019s one thing to be invited to play Augusta National, but being well aware that this may be it, the one and only time you get to take a divot from the same turf that has been walked by every great of the game for the last 90 years, you\u2019d like to be able to do the occasion justice and play something resembling half-decent golf.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s that thought – \u2018am I up to this?\u2019 – that swirls through your mind as your head hits the pillow knowing that when the sun rises, the home of The Masters will be waiting for you to stride to the first tee and unleash whatever you\u2019ve managed to bring to the table on one of the game\u2019s grandest stages.<\/p>\n
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Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n Warren Smith’s dream round at AugustaSource: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n It\u2019s Monday, April 14, 2025, and your tee time at Augusta National is 8.45am.<\/p>\n Your arrival time at the main gate on Washington Road, which leads you directly down Magnolia Lane, is 7.45am.<\/p>\n Ideally you\u2019d like more time than one hour between arriving on-site and putting a ball on a peg on the first tee, but there\u2019s no point turning up 15 minutes early because the very friendly guard at the front gate will advise you that as your invitation says 7.45am, that\u2019s when you should return to make the drive down golf\u2019s most famous piece of ashphalt.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a glorious morning \u2013 one of those Chamber of Commerce type days when they take all the nice pictures of town halls \u2013 and the sun is streaming through the branches of the magnolia\u2019s as you slowly drive towards Founders Circle and the iconic yellow jasmine flowers that make up the map of America in front of the clubhouse.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a \u2018pinch me, I\u2019m dreaming moment\u2019, but you\u2019re trying to keep it together so that you don\u2019t arrive at the front door more giddy than Warren Buffett\u2019s stockbroker.<\/p>\n Bags are unloaded and you head upstairs for a Continental Breakfast, knowing full well that while you\u2019d like to just sit and soak in the ambience of what was once the home of the Berckman\u2019s and their Fruitland Nursery, every minute you spend looking at the cabinets of memorabilia is one less minute you\u2019ll have to warm-up at the practice range.<\/p>\n As a collector of old golf clubs and an admirer of the history laid out before you, the battle is real.<\/p>\n READ MORE MASTERS<\/p>\n TEE TIMES: Aussies paired with champions as blockbuster groups revealed<\/a><\/p>\n BRYSON vs RORY: Rory never spoke to Bryson… except for this epic flashpoint<\/a><\/p>\n INSIDE THE ROPES: The comical 7am Masters moment that proves Augusta is \u2018Disneyland for adults\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n LATEST: How 8yo stole show after dad\u2019s ace; teen\u2019s incredible Rory reveal<\/a><\/p>\n ULTIMATE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about Masters as \u2018incredible\u2019 Aussie truth emerges<\/a><\/p>\n Fun and games on Masters Eve | 02:46<\/p>\n So is the desire to hit golf balls. Now. On the same range used by the stars of the game in the biggest week of their golf calendar.<\/p>\n The range you see on TV, by the way, is accessible to Augusta National\u2019s members on just one day of the year \u2013 their single-round club championships.<\/p>\n My caddie\u2019s name is Brian Tam, a highly regarded looper who has worked at the club for more than 20 years and who regularly steers some of the lower profile Masters competitors around the fabled layout each April.<\/p>\n In 2025 he was fresh off the bag of Evan Beck, the 34 year old American having booked his ticket to Augusta by winning the 2024 US Mid-Amateur.<\/p>\n I know I\u2019m not going to hit it like Evan, but it would help my confidence levels if I could just manage to make contact somewhere in the vicinity of the middle of the clubface, a goal that seems to be eluding me as I quickly destroy what was a lovely pyramid of balls with one rushed swing after another.<\/p>\n Whack. Jeez. Rake. Whack. Gawd. Rake. Whack. Hoo Boy. Rake.<\/p>\n There\u2019s nothing like a great warm-up in front of a gaggle of men wearing white overalls and green hats who are sizing you up with every swing, and this is nothing like a great warm-up.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s go have a quick chip and a putt.<\/p>\n The flat stick is probably the best club in my bag, and having walked around the course for the previous seven days eyeing off the wicked slopes and firm, fast surfaces of Augusta National\u2019s greens, I was dying to roll a few before we headed to the tee.<\/p>\n Warren with his caddie Brian TamSource: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n I wouldn\u2019t say it was a mistake to use the practice green beside the main range, but I wasn\u2019t exactly feeling like Jordan Spieth circa-2015 when I kept running the ball by the hole, at speed, on a green that was running at about the same speed on the stimpmeter as varnished marble.<\/p>\n I needed a lot more time there, but time was up. The fastest hour of your life was gone in a blink and you had a pressing engagement with Tea Olive, or as anybody who isn\u2019t Jim Nantz calls it, Hole Number 1.<\/p>\n Now, let\u2019s not kid ourselves here. There\u2019s an average of 60 yards difference between the tees the pro\u2019s play and the tees the members play.<\/p>\n That\u2019s average.<\/p>\n You might get 15 to 20 yards headstart on the Par 3\u2019s, but on some of the Par 4\u2019s \u2013 the 11th especially \u2013 the member\u2019s tees that we\u2019re playing from are a full 120 yards in front of the Masters tees, which are so far back up the hill they might just be in South Carolina.<\/p>\n My handicap is 3, and while the total yardage we\u2019ll play in this round is similar to my home club of Bonnie Doon in Sydney\u2019s south-east, the intimidation factor along with lightning fast greens and continuous elevation changes will make the National a unique challenge.<\/p>\n