Russell Knox achieves dream of Masters invitation

First comes the victory. Not just any victory, but one with the best perk in golf for a professional yet to experience Augusta National Golf Club in April – a spot in the Masters Tournament.

Then comes the waiting for the letter of invitation.

Russell Knox said he was being patient after winning the World Golf Cham­pionships event in Shanghai. In early January, Knox got the letter from his agent in a very modern manner.

The invitation, like most of Knox’s golf-related correspondence, had been sent to agent John Wiler at IMG headquarters in Cleveland. Wiler snapped a photo and texted it to Knox with the words, “I assume you wanted to see this.”

Wiler later visited Knox at his Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., home to take care of some routine matters. As Wiler got up to leave, he reached into his pocket and produced an envelope with an Augusta post office box as the return address.

“Here you go,” Wiler said. “You might want to keep this.”

“(Wiler) came to the house for something totally different, and then brought the letter out in a very nonchalant way,” Knox said. “I knew I had qualified so I wasn’t really worried. But he did surprise me with it.”

“It’s the letter I always hoped I would get,” Knox said. “It was different then what I thought, with no name on it. But it’s cool. I will have that framed and on the wall.”

Knox knew he was entitled to play practice rounds, so the week before playing in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Knox went to Augusta with his father Mike.

After the five-hour drive, he overshot Gate 2 and Magnolia Lane.

“We had to make a quick U-turn,” he said. “I was more surprised than anything that the entrance was straight off the main road. The club is a lot closer to the road than I thought.”

Knox had already called ahead and a member of the pro staff greeted him and gave him a locker, a caddie and a rundown on the rules: one walking guest (his father), no phone on the course, no texting and keep the photos to a minimum, with no postings to social media.

It was his first visit to the club. Knox said he felt familiar with the settings from watching nearly every Masters on TV since he was a boy in Inverness, Scotland.

“The Masters is there every year, so you watch it enough times on TV and you know every hole, what people have hit, the whole history of every big shot,” he said.

But TV is two-dimensional. Once Knox stepped out of the clubhouse on the right of the first tee, it left him in awe.

“I wasn’t sure if the whole course was going to be full overseed, if it was all going to be green or there would be any brown areas,” Knox said. “But we walked out there and I was amazed. Everything is so washed, every blade of grass on the whole property is the same length. It’s in such amazing condition.”

Knox said temperatures were in the high 70s, “a perfect day to play golf.”

Knox also was appreciative that on his first visit to Augusta National, he walked 18 holes with his father.

“He was pumped,” Knox said. “He would have loved to have played, but just to be there was pretty special.”

The highlight was a 9-iron into the par-3 12th hole, scaring the cup until it came to rest 3 feet away. He missed the putt.

“Almost a hole-in-one, but I missed it, so not a great story,” he said.

Knox said overall, he played well.

“But I wasn’t there to take notes or really care how I played,” he said. “I was trying to soak it in first time around. The course tells this great story as you walk around. Every hole is different, the shape, its length. Every green is different. It’s designed perfectly.”

Knox said he has not returned to Augusta for an additional practice round. He arrived Sunday and said the practice rounds and sessions on the range and short-game area will suffice.

“Guys can overprepare,” he said. “You see it every week. The bottom line it’s just golf. A 150-yard shot at Augusta is the same as 150 yards at Jacksonville Beach.”

That approach worked last November in Shanghai at Sheshan International Golf Club, where Knox won the tournament that got him to Augusta.

“I played one practice round that took about three hours,” he said. “There’s no recipe. It’s what works for each individual.”

Wiler said Knox is understandably excited but has a way of not letting emotions get in the way of the job at hand.

“Russell has always done a good job at focusing when it’s time to compete,” Wiler said.

“I can’t believe it’s finally here,” Knox said. “For me, it’s always been about the Masters, just like every kid. It’s the biggest tournament in golf.”

Knox said that includes the Open Championship, the oldest major in golf and played at five venues in his home country.

“I have the highest respect for the Open,” he said. “But as a kid, on the green with my buddies, those putts were always to win the Masters.”