Watney needs 4 solid rounds

Walking up the fairway to the elevated green on the 18th hole in last year's Masters Tournament is something Nick Watney won't forget anytime soon.

Granted, it wasn't the victory walk Phil Mickelson would take later that afternoon, but "it was very special," he said.

Watney was in the process of completing a final-round 7-under-par 65, which tied for the low round of the day with Anthony Kim. It moved Watney from a tie for 16th place after three rounds into a solo seventh-place finish.

The gallery surrounding the 18th green appreciated his play, which made the walk up the hill to the green even more memorable.

Watney, who won at Doral in early March this year, called the final round of the 2010 Masters "a magical day. I got off to a good start. I just kind of wanted to keep it going and kind of ignored everything and tried not to get too lost in the moment.

"I was having so much fun coming down the stretch and I didn't really want it to end," he said. "Although I didn't win the tournament, it's a dream come true to play a good round on Sunday at Augusta."

His second-round 76 kept Watney from contention. He opened with 68 and had a third-round 71 before closing with 65.

"Maybe if I could eliminate that 76, who knows?" said Watney, who finished eight shots behind Mickelson.

Putting four solid rounds together is not easy to do at Augusta National Golf Club, Watney has discovered. In his three Masters starts, he's always had a round that slowed him down (an opening 75 in 2008 and 73 in the final round of 2009).

"I feel like it is hard to do because you have to be so precise," he said. "You're not going to be like that every time. That's where the short game comes in; that's why Phil, Tiger (Woods) and Jose Maria Olazabal do so well there. You're not going to hit it perfect every day, so when you're not, to save a couple of shots here and there is key."

Watney lost his way on the back nine during that 76 last year.

"I bogeyed 12, 13, 16 and 18," he said. "The wheels came off and I was trying to hold it together. I three-putted a couple of times, hit in the creek on 13 and hit it in bad spots.

"The golf course got me and I wasn't able to make pars when I needed to," he said. "It definitely cost me, and hopefully I can learn from that. If I do make a bogey, you don't have to make birdie on the next hole. Pars are OK around there."

Watney comes into this Masters on a hot streak. He won the WGC-Cadillac Championship in March to extend his streak of top-10 finishes to seven.

Watney and Mickelson are represented by the same management firm, which comes in handy when Watney wants to ask the three-time Masters champion questions about Augusta National.

"We talk a little bit about it," Watney said. "Obviously, he knows his way around there. It's about learning the greens and trying to keep it in certain places."

What has he learned from watching the way Mickelson plays Augusta National?

"That your short game can never be good enough," Watney said. "He's pretty much the standard out here. I've got a long way to go to get to his level."

Watney says he "loves everything about" the Masters, from driving down Magnolia Lane, to its history and aura right on down to the food served.

"Once the tournament starts, the fun really starts," he said. "My favorite part is the feel of the competition. The roars and how precise you have to be around the greens."

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