James Sugrue’s Masters memories: ‘Meeting Tiger Woods was an unreal moment for me’
James Sugrue hits his approach shot on the 13th during a practice round prior at Augusta National last November. The Mallow man, who turned professional at the start of this year, qualified for the Masters after winning the R&A Amateur Championship at Portmarnock in 2019.
Since the Masters was first played in 1934, 15 Irishmen have competed for the Green Jacket… without success.
Over the decades, and every year since 1998, there has been an Irish representative driving up Magnolia Lane, playing through the azaleas and around the famous Amen Corner.
Rory McIlroy has come closest (4th in 2015) to acquiring the most famous piece of clothing in sport.
When James Sugrue arrived at the famous Augusta National Golf Club last November to play in the most iconic of golf’s majors, he became that 15th Irishman.
James received an invitation to the Masters following his victory in the British Amateur Championship, at Portmarnock in June, 2019.
The tournament was delayed seven months due to Covid-19, but he became the sixth Irish amateur to play Augusta, following in the footsteps of Alan Dunbar (2013), Brian McElhinney (2003), Michael Hoey (2002), Garth McGimpsey (1986, 1987) and the legendary Joe Carr (1967, 1968, 1969).
My fondest memory was meeting Tiger. He’s the main reason I started playing golf, so it was an unreal moment for me. Obviously everyone who has watched him knows how good he is and after what happened recently who knows if he’ll ever be able to recover. Hopefully he will.
And then there’s the course itself. It was breathtaking. You see it all on TV and Augusta is the pinnacle of golf. Along with St Andrews, they’re probably the two most renowned courses in the world. To tee it up and play around there was unbelievable.
I was on the putting green by myself and he came along with his entourage. I asked Joe, his caddie, if it would be OK to get a picture with Tiger, and he called Tiger over.
He was lovely. He was with Robbie McNamara — one of Tiger’s closest friends — whose grandparents are from Limerick, so that got us to talking about Adare Manor. Tiger was super nice so it was a dream come true for me.
Not having my parents there because they couldn’t travel with the Covid restrictions. I missed the cut, too, which was the only disappointing thing that happened during the tournament. The damage was done on the first day but I was happy to shoot under par in the second round. I really enjoyed my 10 days there.
It lived up to my expectations. One thing you simply can’t see on TV, but is often talked about, is the elevation changes. I started my first practice round on the 10th. It is one of the best holes I’ve ever played but it’s crazy how downhill it is.
Even the 1st which looks pretty flat on TV has a huge hollow you have to walk through to get to the fairway. It’s up and down but what an amazing course and an amazing design.
As for the greens, it was great having a local caddie for that. You can’t believe the way a putt breaks. What looks like a straight putt just breaks and breaks. The slope and the grain on the green made them so hard to read. The only place I’ve played like it is Adare, especially around the greens.
It was cool. I played them OK, but that second shot into 11 is really tough. The wind around there is crazy. I’ve never played such a short stretch where the wind swirls so much. It’s so hard to select a club for it as the wind up above the trees fools everyone.
On the par-3 12th, I hit it in the water during my second round. It was a perfect pitching wedge for me but as soon as I hit it, I could see it was climbing up in the wind, and I knew it wasn’t getting there. It landed on the bank and went back into the water.
My shape is to hit a fade so the 13th wasn’t ideal for me but I teed it up on the right of the tee box and hit it straight over some trees on the left. It carried to the middle of the fairway but ended up being a mud ball. That made my second shot very tough and the ball was above my feet on the upslope. I hit a five iron expecting it to draw. I thought I’d hit it really well but it ended up going straight and even fading at the end. Fortunately I got up and down for a birdie.
I had a lot of mud balls during the tournament, but then everybody did.
I wasn’t too bad. I was nervous for sure, but I’d practiced the shot a lot as I fade the ball and you need a hard draw going down 10. I hit a lovely shot. And there wasn’t a big arena around the tee which helped.
With Ollie, we talked a little bit about soccer. He’s a Real Sociedad fan and they were doing well in the league. Putnam was a nice fella, too. We chatted about his family and he’s in business with his brother making golf and sports towels. He did really well at Bay Hill the other week, picking up $390,000 for coming joint fourth.
The difference was probably nerves. I wasn’t nervous on that first tee (10th) because I’d practised the shot so much but I got more nervous as the round progressed. There was a rain delay and I was out late so didn’t tee off till 3.30pm. That didn’t help.
Overall, the difference between the two days was just nerves. I wouldn’t say I hit the ball any better that second day: I probably just backed myself a little bit more.
The toughest element has to be the slopes… on the fairways and on very fast greens, too. There are slopes everywhere.
The 10th. It’s such a cool hole and it’s a unique sweeping par-4 dogleg. The green is long, too, which can make it a very different hole depending on the pin position. The 12th is the best par-3 because of that wind. It should be such an easy shot… but it’s definitely not.
It was from a guy who was working there and who took us around in a buggy. He was a caddie and he told me that on the 11th, you always need half a club more for your second shot. There are three trees to the right of the green and he told me to aim at the right hand tree as it takes all the trouble out of play.
No.
Jordan Spieth. He’s been doing well over these last few weeks.
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