Most recognize learning curve

As Steve Stricker would say, let the cramming begin.

Starting today, the 99-player field will have only three days to study Augusta National Golf Club in preparation for the 75th Masters Tournament. It will be a crucial time for the 20 rookies.

"I really just want to learn the lay of the land and play a couple of rounds with guys who have been there," said Rickie Fowler, one of those Masters newcomers. "I won't take it any differently from any other tournament. I'll try to go figure out the course and go play."

It's usually not that easy. Even someone like Stricker, who will be playing in his 11th Masters, feels as though he's still learning the course.

"There's a lot of little things you need to know," Stricker said. "I was talking to Scott Verplank last year as we were going around; I told him, 'It's like cramming for a test.'

"It's hard to get it down; it really is. You can go around there and drive yourself crazy because you just feel like you can't learn it all because there's so many different little humps and bumps and rolls, so it's very difficult."

It even took Jack Nicklaus, who won six green jackets, some time to figure out the course.

"This golf course, it just takes learning," Nicklaus said. "I think experience is the hardest thing on this golf course. It's not an easy place to learn."

When Nicklaus closed out his career at Augusta National in 2005, he had played in 45 Masters and was an amazing 3-under par for 163 rounds. In his first two years -- 1959 and 1960 -- he was a combined 11 over par, however.

"By the time I got to play my third or fourth year, I was very comfortable with my ability to be able to handle this golf course, but I think it takes a few years," said Nicklaus, who shot 1-under-par 287 in his third Masters (1961) and tied for seventh place. He would go on to win in 1963, '65, '66, '72, '75 and '86.

"The more times you go around here, the better," said Stricker, who is 39-over-par for 30 tournament rounds.

Said Spain's Alvaro Quiros: "After playing it (for the first time in 2009), I felt that I need to play a lot of rounds of golf to be successful in Augusta."

The experience factor helps explain why so few champions won their titles early in their Masters careers. Only Horton Smith (1934), Gene Sarazen (1935) and Fuzzy Zoeller (1979) won in their first appearance. Two players -- Jimmy Demaret (1940) and Herman Keiser (1946) -- won on their second try. The third time was the charm for six others, including Byron Nelson (1937) and Tiger Woods (1997).

Phil Mickelson has three green jackets, but didn't win his first until his 12th appearance.

"It's overwhelming at times," said Stricker, whose best finish is a tie for sixth place in 2009. "I think that's what's helped me the last few years is it's just like any other tournament in regards to practice and that's just you go out there, try to get a feel for the conditions, and then you're going to have to deal with where you are at the time of the tournament."

This will be the fourth Masters for reigning U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell. He has missed the cut two of his three times here, to go with a tie for 17th in 2009. He is 6-over for his eight rounds at Augusta National, but welcomes the challenge.

"It's one of those golf courses (where) every time I go back, I feel like I see something new," McDowell said. "My short game, I'm working very hard on my short game. That's one of my main areas of work right now. ..."

McDowell came up for a practice session in late March and planned to return to Augusta on Sunday and hit the course today.

"I want to spend time on the golf course," he said. "I don't think there's any substitute around Augusta."

Like McDowell, Brandt Snedeker visits the course whenever he can before Masters Week.

"You try to sneak down there for two or three days of intense practice," he said. "That way, when you get there you've been there and you've done that."

When he gets here for the pre-tournament practice, Snedeker likes to play with a champion "to try to pick their brain a little bit.

"I think the biggest thing about that golf course is playing it a bunch, get comfortable on it, know where you can hit and you can't hit it," Snedeker said. "It takes awhile to do that."

Reach David Westin at (706) 823-3224 ordavid.westin@augustachronicle.com.