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.

I really wasn't nervous. I hit a lot of bad shots (in a round of 7-over-par 79). If you do that on this golf course, it's just going to be painful all day. Even-par's not a bad score. One-under is not a bad score. I don't know if it's playing tough. I hit a lot of bad shots. If you hit good shots, it's not that bad.

I've played it before. It's what I expected, but I don't know. Sometimes a good shot is good and sometimes a good shot is bad.

That's just kind of the way Augusta is. It rewards few and punishes many.

I didn't hit a great drive on the first hole. But I hit a really good 3-iron and found it off the green, down the hill into the collection area. That just happens a lot out here.

It was just a rough day from the beginning. I basically just hung on to make four straight pars. I hit two good putts that missed. After that, I never really got the putter quite working. I made one long one on No. 12. I just couldn't put anything together, to be honest.

On No. 10, I snap-hooked it into the trees. Then it came to rest against the trunk of a tree and I had to take a penalty. I ended up making seven, which is not the way you want the Masters to go. Lesson learned.

The greens were pretty quick. I don't think they're going to be as fast as that practice green just because that green gets more traffic and it's up on a hill. That one just gets a little more compacted. I don't think the course gets like that.

There are a lot of people out there. I think there's a lot less people wandering around, and they're sticking right to the holes. It's still a great atmosphere.

I'm going to go whack balls, work on my putting, work on my chipping and go see what I can do (in the second round). There's a long way to go. Maybe we can make something of it. If I have a good round (today) and shoot in red numbers, a couple under, 3-under, maybe I have a chance (to make the cut). There's no excuse for me to play the way I did today. This is just a horrible day.

Unfortunately, my friends and family had to see that. I wish I could've played better with them here.

I'd say this is probably one of my two worst days as a professional, but like I said, lesson learned. This one will probably stick in my mind forever. I'm not real happy about it right now. If this were a regular week and I had to make the cut and I'm not playing good ... this is just one of those club-snapping days.

- Chris Gay