After winning the 2016 U.S. Amateur, Curtis Luck received an invitation to compete in the 2017 Masters Tournament.

Not only did he earn a trip to Augusta National as a 20-year-old, the Australian proceeded to make the cut and play all four competitive rounds as an amateur.

Earlier in the week, Luck played a few practice holes with Rory McIlroy. As they arrived at Augusta National’s famed par-3 12th hole, McIlroy offered a valuable bit of advice.

“He told me that if I got a wind for a split-second that I liked, run in and hit the shot immediately,” Luck recalled. “Because it is really unsettling to be on that tee, and just be feeling and seeing four different winds at one time.”

Five years after making his Masters debut, Luck aims to regain his PGA TOUR card via the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour season – and hopes for several more trips to Augusta National throughout his career. He’ll forever look back fondly on his first Masters experience, which he earned via his 2016 U.S. Amateur triumph at Oakland Hills CC near Detroit. Luck defeated Nick Carlson (21 holes) in a semifinal to earn his Masters invitation, then bested Brad Dalke, 6 and 4, in the 36-hole finale.

Luck took full advantage of the experience, embracing the nuances that cannot be seen on television or a stream. He arrived a week early and practiced when “there was not a soul on the golf course,” seeing the property evolve from “lush green grass” to “heads across the entire property.”

“That was wild to me,” remarked Luck of the evolution from week-out to week-of. “Because of the way that it’s colored and maintained, it’s so perfectly green, that on TV it doesn’t show the severeness of the elevation changes on the golf course, because on camera, there’s no real good depth perception.

“So when I got there, there were a couple holes … I had watched every Masters growing up, and there were a few holes that when I got there, I didn’t even recognize what they were, because they looked so different in person.”

Luck recalled watching the 2016 Masters telecast as Jordan Spieth made a final-round quadruple-bogey 7 on the par-3 12th, on a day where he surrendered a five-stroke lead at the turn and eventually finished tied for second, three strokes back of Danny Willett.

At the time, Luck had yet to traverse the grounds of Augusta National, and he now admits he underestimated the hole’s unique challenge.

“I watched Spieth have it escalate," Luck said, "and I think I was quite a harsh critic on, ‘How could you do something like that on such a short par 3?’ And then you actually play it in person …”

When asked to pick his favorite hole at Augusta National, Luck points to the downhill par-4 10th, another instance of reality extending well beyond the telecast perception.

“10 is kind of wild,” Luck said. “The second shot off that severe downslope, and the tee shot, what you have to do … you don’t really understand what the players are going through on that tee until you’re there.”

In his 2017 Masters debut, Luck rallied from an opening-round 78 with a second-round, even-par 72 – including a birdie at the tricky 10th – to make the cut on the number. He carded weekend rounds of 75-72, highlighted by a Sunday stretch of four consecutive birdies on Nos. 12-15, for a T46 finish.

For Luck, a competitive weekend at the Masters put a bow on a highly accomplished amateur career. Luck turned professional later that month, and he first earned Korn Ferry Tour membership through Q-School that fall. He earned his first TOUR card via the 2018 Korn Ferry Tour Finals but finished No. 175 on the 2018-19 FedExCup standings to lose status and fall back to the Korn Ferry Tour.

The adopted Orlando-area resident earned his first TOUR-sanctioned title at the 2020 Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship, but he failed to regain TOUR status via The 25 or The Finals 25 during the 2020-21 combined season.

Luck has displayed strong form in 2022, riding a string of five consecutive made cuts into this week’s spring break of sorts, including a T5 at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open presented by MISTRAS in March.

He stands No. 55 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List as he eyes a TOUR return, and perhaps an eventual reunion with McIlroy.

On that 2017 Masters practice day, Luck and McIlroy played a skins game. Luck recalls McIlroy starting birdie-birdie and thinking, “I was a bit concerned.”

The eventual verdict?

“I think I nabbed him,” Luck said with a smile.