Close to a hole-in-one on the famous 12th

I’ve had my share of nervous sports moments.

Those free throw shots late in a game. The batter’s box with two outs and the winning run on second.

None of it compares to being on the first tee box at Augusta National as eight to 10 people watch you set your ball on the tee, get the driver right in your hands and try to somehow stop your knees from knocking together.

That’s where I found myself in 2023 as I was about to tee off a round at the most famous golf club on the planet.

Playing a round at Augusta National

The joke goes that we didn’t get into journalism for the money.

At times, it certainly has its perks. This one’s probably the biggest.

Each year, credentialed journalists at the Masters can enter a journalist lottery to play the course the Monday after the Masters.

Two years ago, my name was called with about 19 others.

For two nights, I barely slept. I came down with one of the worst colds of my life, and by the time I headed toward Augusta National for my 11 a.m. tee time, I felt like a zombie.

I contemplated asking for a rain check. Not a chance in hell, I knew.

So I pulled down Magnolia Lane on April 10 at 10:01 a.m., soaking it all in.

I changed in the champions locker room, hit several balls on the range, and by 11 o’clock I was having my picture taken with my playing partners on the first tee. (I’m second from left in the photo above).

I was last to tee off.

18 holes at Augusta National. Here’s how it went

Once I calmed my hands enough to hit a tee shot, I made solid contact but pulled it hard left into the trees. My second shot ricocheted off a pine and went backward, but into the middle of the fairway. After hitting a couple shots thin, chipping twice onto the green and adding a couple of putts, I wrote down my first 8 of the day. A snowman.

I played respectable on the front nine, carding three bogeys (there were no pars on the day) on Nos. 2, 4 and 9.

The best shot of the day, and likely the best I’ll ever hit in my life, came on No. 12.

Those knees began knocking again. Rae’s Creek was in sight. All those final rounds lost because they came up short at 12. The best player in my group hit his shot in the water. Another person hit a shank.

My caddie handed me an 8-iron, and I told myself I’d rather hit it in the azaleas behind the green than come up short.

I took a deep breath and swung. Off the club it went straight toward the hole, located in the same front-right position as Sunday.

I heard the group, four players and our caddies, start to raise their voices. “That’s right at it.” “Get in there, ball!”

In the air, I thought I might have done the impossible. The one thing that could make me hang up the golf shoes and say “it won’t get any better than that.” Did I hit a hole-in-one at Amen Corner?

As I crossed the Hogan Bridge, I was anxious to see how close I was.

When I got to the ball, it had hit about 8 feet directly behind the pin and rolled slightly onto the first cut.

I three-putted for a 4.

I recall nearly every shot of that round, but a memorable one came on No. 16, a par 3 where the ball didn’t fly toward the pin.

I was stuck behind a tree and the scoring tower with no clear shot at the green. My caddie, who was encouraging me all day with a ‘that’s OK, not a bad shot there’ even after my worst shots, came up with a plan.

I would somehow hit the ball toward the bunker at the back-right of the green and get it to spin out.

Sir, I thought, you’ve seen my golf skills for 15 holes. He still believed in me.

I made perfect contact, the ball went in the bunker and acted like a skateboarder shooting around the curves of a swimming pool. It trickled onto the green, much to the amazement of other caddies, who had walked that course a time or two. They had never seen anything like that. I can’t say I could ever replicate it again. The magic of Augusta National.

I two-putted for bogey.

In the end, the only ball I lost all day was on 18. By that point, I’ll blame the pulled drive on lack of sleep and the severe cold.

At the end of the day, it was the best 112 of my life.

Ryne Dennis is the Deep South Connect Team Editor for Gannett/USA Today and former Sports Editor of the Athens Banner-Herald. Find him on X @RyneDennis and email at rdennis@onlineathens.com.