Troy Matteson, a three-time All-American at Georgia Tech, charged at the end of his rookie season on the PGA Tour to qualify for his first Masters Tournament based on his money list ranking. Matteson was a first-time PGA Tour winner in October at the Las Vegas event. The 27-year-old Alpharetta, Ga., resident has agreed to share his daily thoughts with The Augusta Chronicle during his Masters debut.

It was great today. I got out here a little later and signed up for the Par-3 Contest. We went off a little early and got a great pairing. I was actually scheduled to play by myself last and I got to play with Stephen Ames and Craig Stadler. Craig's so funny, and he's a great player. That was just a great pairing to play with him for nine holes in the Par-3 Contest. My first one. I'm sure it's one I'll never forget.

It's just amazing to see all those people out there watching all the shots on the Par-3. It's just a great way to have a Wednesday before you play. I've got my pro, Jeff Paton (Golf Club of Georgia director of golf), caddieing for me, maneuvering me around.

I birdied the first two holes and got a good look at it at No. 3. Then I hit it in the bunker at No. 4. After that, I hit some good shots, but I wasn't going to chase down that Mark O'Meara score.

Stephen Ames birdied the first four and I think he got thinking about that. So he decided to let his son putt a few. He really didn't want to win that one and put all the pressure on himself for the big one.

I walked up here after I played and saw them cutting the practice green and thought this would be a good time to get in some putts. Man oh man, are they fast. Fastest surface I've played on. A couple of years we had our course fast for the Georgia Cup. One year when we could measure them, we had our greens at 13.7. And this is all of that for sure and more.

I feel good. I like Larry Mize (in Matteson's group today). I've played with him before. Great guy. Super champion. We're going to have a lot of fun. Last time we played together we had a lot of fun and he told me a lot of great stories. I'm just looking forward to a great couple of days playing with him.

Hopefully, I can learn a few things and watch him around the greens, watch the things he does and do a little bit of that myself. I'm sure he'll be a good guide around the course.

You always expect in golf to get up and have very little wind in the morning, and the wind progresses as the day goes on. With these weather patterns moving in, we may see the opposite. Hopefully, getting the early tee time I'll get the smoothest greens and the best condition for the wind. But if it's not, we'll make the best of it one way or another.

I'm going to get up early and do the same thing I do for most tournaments. I'm going to give myself an hour to warm up; maybe a little longer with the fans and stuff. I don't need to give myself too much time to get worked up. I just need to go out there and play.

- Chris Gay