Glover's fantastic journey
Masters rookie has long history with National
Lucas Glover has been on a pilgrimage of sorts to Augusta National Golf Club since he was 6 years old.
Every Masters Saturday for 10 years, he came from Greenville, S.C., to Augusta with his grandfather, Dick Hendley. It started in 1986, the day before Jack Nicklaus lifted that year's tournament to a level all its own.
Glover was certainly hooked. Even after he followed his grandfather's steps to play sports at Clemson, Glover's pilgrimage escalated. He attended two more Masters as a collegian and was invited, along with his Tiger teammates, to play the course three times from 1999 to 2001.
Now he gets to take the ultimate golf journey as a first-time participant in the Masters Tournament, one of 16 players making their debut in the tournament this week.
He could hardly believe it when he arrived a few weeks ago to play some practice rounds.
"It was pretty surreal driving down there on Tuesday, driving through the gate and walking out," he said. "It didn't feel right just being able to go there and play, because that's all you hear about. ... They welcome you with open arms and you kind of have run of the place. But pretty impressive that they let us do that. And thanks to them, or I'd be lost (Masters Week)."
Glover has clearly found his way on the PGA Tour. A Nationwide Tour grad in 2003, he finished outside of the top 125 his rookie season and was forced back to Q-school. He birdied three of the last four holes in the qualifying tournament to upgrade his card on the number.
The quality of his play has accelerated dramatically in the past six months. With long birdies on the last two holes, including a dramatic 100-foot blast from a bunker to end it, he won his first tournament at Walt Disney World. That result seemed to change everything.
"Just instant confidence," he said. "That is the biggest thing out here, because even if you're playing mediocre and you've got a lot of confidence, you're going to play better. ... I woke up that Monday morning and I was, 'Hey, I won out here, now we've got to go do it again.'"
Two weeks later, he was playing his first Tour Championship. On Dec. 3 he got married. When the honeymoon and holidays were over, he played in the Mercedes Championships in Hawaii. In 2006 he's made all but one cut, posted four top-10s, six top-20s and left The Players Championship ranked 10th in Ryder Cup points.
Despite all that, he comes into his first Masters somewhat overshadowed by a rookie crop of power hitters and the usual array of marquee stars. It doesn't seem to bother him.
"It's fine with me," he said. "Clich, clich, clich ... I'm just trying to play each round. Seriously, whether I'm on the front page of the paper, on the back page, or not at all. You know, that's what the best players in the world do, and that's what I'm trying to do."
It's all happened so fast for Glover since he began this pilgrimage 20 years ago that he's not sure that he's ready.
In his only prior major appearances at the 2002 U.S. Open and 2005 PGA Championship, Glover missed the cut - but he's a much different player now.
"I want to say yes, but I don't know," he said of his readiness. "Because I haven't done it. I have never played with Tiger or Phil or Ernie or any of those guys. I've love to give it a try. ...
"But that's how you measure yourself is with the best, and I'd like to just see how I stack up and evaluate."
Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.
