TOUR Insider: The Masters welcomes the teen brigade
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- It was hard to tell what made Danny Lee more uncomfortable Tuesday.
Was it the massive crowds lining the pristine fairways at Augusta National or the 30 members of the media hanging on the 18-year-old Masters rookie's every word? Truth be told, it was both.
"I'm having really bad nerves at the moment, seriously," Lee admitted, adding that he was so tense he even had a stomach ache. "All of the crowds yesterday, I was nervous, really shaking my clubs, and wasn't swinging properly. ...
"I'm trying to relax and trying to calm myself every time, but I know as soon as I go outside the clubhouse and watch all of those crowds out there, I cannot get relaxed or like nice and calm like that. But I'm still working on it."
So is Ryo Ishikawa, the 17-year-old Japanese phenom. He may be more accustomed to the media attention due to the intense scrutiny he gets in his homeland, but he also was unnerved by the crowds -- so much so that he practiced off-campus on Tuesday.
"The reason is that because as I played in front of a huge crowd, the galleries, and I got a little bit nervous, and although I had a great swing; until yesterday, as I played in front of many people, that I got nervous," Ishikawa said. "So my swing was just kind of messed up a little bit, so I just wanted to spend some time by myself practicing a swing. "
Rory McIlroy, though, the third member of the talented teenage triumvirate, is taking his first Masters appearance in stride. The 19-year-old's calm demeanor is in stark contrast to the others' nerves and speaks volumes about the space each occupies in golf's landscape right now.
"I thought I would be nervous hitting my first shot here," the young Irishman said. "I think maybe if I was a little younger and maybe if I played here as an amateur it, would have been a little different, and I would have been in awe of the place.
"But having been on (the European) Tour now for a year and a half, I'm not saying that it's not any different, but you try and just treat it as if it was another golf tournament. I'm not really one to get overwhelmed by much these days for some reason, don't know why.
"I'm really excited to be here, don't get me wrong. But I want to try and get the most out of this week as possible. So you can't really be in awe of anything."
The last time McIlroy recalls being overwhelmed was earlier this year when he won the Dubai Desert Classic. He has four other top-five finishes on the European Tour, and he hasn't finished lower than 20th in four appearances on the PGA TOUR this year.
So McIlroy, who is a near-encyclopedia of Tiger Woods lore, comes to Augusta National with a very real chance to contend. He's confident, composed and comfortable in his surroundings.
"It's a week that I'm going to enjoy and hopefully I'll be playing pretty well," he said. "Hopefully I can carry that good golf into this week, as well. But I'm here to enjoy myself and hopefully pick up some valuable experience.
"If it doesn't quite work out this week, I'll hopefully have plenty more to try to do well in. You know what? It's just going to be a great week and one I'm really looking forward to."
Two weeks after McIlroy broke through on the European Tour, Lee got his first win, too. He's the reigning U.S. Amateur champ, and he plans to turn pro immediately after the Masters -- making his PGA TOUR debut at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
Lee, who is staying in the Crow's Nest this week, already has a two-year exemption on the European Tour by virtue of his win earlier this year. He wants to play on the PGA TOUR, though, "because it's more exciting, and it's like lots more people are following."
"I want to play on a more harder level and more competitive golf," said Lee, who is a South Korean by birth but a naturalized New Zealand citizen as of last year.
Ishikawa, on the other hand, appears content to stay in Japan and mature. He's already won two events on the Japan Tour, and one other as a pro. His results in the U.S. this year have been mixed with two missed cuts and solo 71st at the Transitions Championship.
"I'm not going to lie to anybody," Ishikawa said. "I'm not going to hide my feelings. I am nervous, and every time I come to this course, I get nervous. But I think within that context, I am still trying to do my best, and that's how I play. "
Ishikawa and Lee will tee off with 23-year-old Anthony Kim, who won twice on the PGA TOUR last year, at 2:03 p.m. ET on Thursday in the day's final pairing. Stewart Cink, Jeev Milka Singh and none other than Tiger Woods will be in the preceding group.
"I know that I will be nervous as I go after him," Ishikawa said. "And probably as people see me and as people think that I'm really nervous. But I think that one of the things that I really have to put in my mind is to do my best, and then I think even no matter what kind of golf I play, that I will do my best and to finish my 18 holes."
The future of golf -- at least in the case of Lee and Ishikawa -- may have to wait a little while to commandeer the headlines at Augusta National once the tournament begins. At the same time, though, the 54-year-old sage Greg Norman points out the trio has "so much more talent at a younger age than what we had in our era at the same age."
The Shark, who tied for third at the British Open last year, remembers fondly his first Masters -- and his first-round pairing that year with Jack Nicklaus.
"(He) put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'I hope you're nervous as I am,'" Norman recalled. "And I said, wow, I can't believe you said that. Jack was sending me a message, like, OK, you're nervous, I know you're nervous, just (take) a minute, calm down and let's just go play golf.
"That was the perfect thing that a superstar like Nicklaus would do to a young rookie like I was."
There are three teenagers at Augusta National who would be thrilled for such a greeting on Thursday.
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