Amateurs can't put cost on Masters experience

The road traveled to the Masters Tournament might be private planes for some, but reaching Magnolia Lane for others was an entirely different ride.

Takumi Kanaya of Japan, Norway’s Viktor Hovland, Devon Bling of UCLA, South Africa’s Jovan Rebula, Florida’s Kevin O’Connell and Mexico’s Alvaro Ortiz will be an international brotherhood of six for life as the amateurs qualifying for the 2019 Masters.

2019 Masters Round 1 Photos

But it’s not like a list of pilots for NetJets resides in their phone contacts, or a private plane is parked in their behalf at the nearest airport. These six amateurs don’t have the bank accounts of some established golf pros, so after qualifying with their golf skills, finding their way to the fairways of Augusta National has them thanking family, friends and U.S. colleges.

Rebula, 21, a junior at Auburn University, qualified by winning the British Amateur. He also has a pretty famous golfing uncle named Ernie Els.

Rebula praised GolfRSA - the unified body of the South African Golf Association ­– “for being a good bit of help getting us over here. I cannot tell you how thankful I am for them a hundred percent. They are the head body of golf and they have a squad system there. I’m fortunate to be on the squad.”

Rebula said driving down Magnolia Lane tugged at his emotions.

“Your heart just skips a beat for no reason when you drive down Magnolia Lane,” Rebula said. “It’s unbelievably special with the tradition that it has and Augusta National has.”

The 21-year-old Hovland, like Rebula, is attending college as a junior at Oklahoma State.

All smiles while graciously handling five separate interviews with the media on Wednesday, he qualified in historic fashion by becoming the first Norwegian to win the U.S. Amateur.

Hovland praised the NCAA and Oklahoma State for handling some of his traveling expenses for the trip to Augusta.

“I’m fortunate to play for Oklahoma State,” Hovland said. “They can provide, through the NCAA rules, that they can pay for this trip. That’s awesome by the NCAA. Obviously, they can’t pay for my family. They have never been to the Masters before, so it’s like a vacation for them.”

Hovland has his mom Galina, his dad Harald, an uncle named Dag, a cousin named Mats, along with two aunts here from Norway rooting for him.

“My aunts have never seen me play golf,” Hovland said. “The last few years I only get to see my family once a year at Christmas.”

Hovland said one of his highlights of the early week was spending the night in the Crow’s Nest with some of the other amateurs.

“All the tradition you think about when you are there,” Hovland said. “There is a little TV up there and we watched the national championship game.”

One of those watching the game with Hovland was the 23-year-old Ortiz.

“The Crow’s Nest was awesome,” Ortiz said. “We watched the NCAA championship. I didn’t have a team. I was just watching.”

Oritz, 23, qualified by winning the Latin America Amateur Championship, becoming the first player from Mexico to play in a Masters in 40 years (Victor Regalado was the last in 1979).

Ortiz is unique from the rest of his amateur players this week in that he has pinned down the date when he will turn pro.

“Monday I’m turning pro,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz said he was blessed his father’s high-end furniture business “is doing really good and he was able to pay for everything. Plus, we split the house we rented between all my friends, so that was nice.”

Ortiz said his first experience at Augusta National has blown his expectations out of the water.

“This place is unreal,” Ortiz said. “I wasn’t expecting it to be this cool and this great. The most special thing is the members and the loyalty they have to the club. They are so welcoming and support you.”

Ortiz’ brother Carlos, a member of the PGA Tour, will be his caddie this week. Alvaro Ortiz said he has good-naturally given his brother a hard time for being the first in the family to qualify for the Masters.

“My brother has been my role model all my life,” said Alvaro, who graduated from the University of Arkansas. “Having him on the bag is awesome and important for me.

“He (jokingly) said he didn’t want to come at first and was mad. But the same time he was happy. He told me be grateful for what has happened.”

 What has happened in 2019 is six amateur golfers will have a life-changing experience this week.

And it started by finding a way to travel to Augusta.