Vegas: Rounds with champions unveil strategy, power

One of the surprise success stories of 2011, Jhonattan (pronounced Jonathan) Vegas is the first golfer from Venezuela to compete in the Masters Tournament. Winning the Bob Hope Classic in only his second stint as a full-time member of the PGA Tour, the 26-year-old has a powerful game and charismatic personality, making him a popular player both in his native country and to U.S. golf fans. Jhonny Vegas will share his rookie Masters experience with The Augusta Chronicle:

I was tired after those 18 holes on Monday. It was a long day, but I woke up pretty good and energized. I was ready for a good round today.

It was a really good nine. I was able to play with Ben Crenshaw today, a two-time past champion here. That was really fun. He's a fellow (Texas) Longhorn, which made it even better. We went around, he gave me some insights on the course and all the greens and the putting and all that stuff. That made it pretty sweet. It was pretty fun. It was a good day. He just gave me some insights on the greens and how the putts break so much and how to putt them, which was great. He's one of the best putters ever. And just a few things about hitting the shots on the course, where to place it, where not to hit it -- that kind of stuff. That is good. This is my rookie Masters. I want to take as much as I can from those guys.

You know what? Lucky me. Both him and Angel Cabrera are past champions, and, especially Cabrera, he has a similar game. It was fun kind of seeing him go around, see how can I match my game to his or what I can take from him. From Ben, it's around the greens and on the greens, which was a good combination. Angel is a little more aggressive, and I'm totally the same way -- aggressive, going for shots and not backing.

Ben is more of a strategic guy, where to place it, how to putt the greens. You have to have both on this course, I think. You got to know when to pull the trigger and when to put the gun in the bag. But we got nine more tomorrow, prepare the best and get ready for Thursday afternoon, I guess.

You don't want to overdo it. You really want to be energetic and be strong for the end of the week. So that's when it matters. I don't think the practice rounds matter as much as the last few days.

The whole place, it's patience because there's so many complicated places here that you can't get too excited or you can't try to force things. You got to try to find the right places and stick to them and try to execute the best. But we're going to have fun. That's the main thing. We're going to go out, do our best and see what happens.

My family, mom, dad, girlfriend, friends are around and it's fun. It's good having them here in this golf tournament. What's a better thing for us, than to be here together?

I'm getting better, I think. It's really hard because there's so much to learn about this place. But I'm feeling better and better as I go. I'm feeling really comfortable. I'm hitting some of those shots and starting to really feel comfortable, which is good. That's kind of what I like. We still have a long way, but I'm feeling better.

Some of those thunders woke me up. They were pretty loud. It was crazy. But the course is holding up pretty good and I don't think we'll have more rain, which is great. I heard the wind is supposed to stop a little bit. It should be fun. It should be a fun weekend.