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Five Australian golfers will line up at the Masters this week, including 21-year-old Sydney amateur Harrison Crowe.
Crowe went viral last year when he hit a ball onto the 18th green at St Andrews from outside a pub.
The youngster joins Cameron Smith, Adam Scott, Jason Day and Min Woo Lee at the Masters courtesy of his win at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship last year.
It was a victory that meant Crowe will not only play at Augusta National this week but also at The Open in July.
"I was going to turn pro probably the week after, so that took a bit of the pressure off myself," Crowe said.
"It was like, 'You win, you get these starts, or you don't win, you turn pro' … that kind of helped me to look past the benefits that come with winning the event."
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Dealing with pressure has always been one of Crowe's strengths.
"I pride myself as a golfer in the way that I handle the pressure; I almost relish it," he said.
"I think it's definitely a pleasure to feel the pressure. At the moment, I'm not nervous. It will be a different situation when I stand on the first tee."
Even though that victory took "a few solid months to sink in", Crowe's been deep in preparation for the last few months.
Recently, he spent four days playing the course and soaking it all in so that he does not get "overwhelmed" when the big day arrives.
Loading...It has been 10 years since Adam Scott's famous victory at the Masters, and Crowe sought advice from his countryman when they played together last year at the Australian Open.
"We had a brief chat about it. It was pretty eye-opening what he explained to me," Crowe said.
"I'm having a practice round with him there, so I'll definitely pick his brain a little bit more and snag some advice."
And Crowe might even get to play with Scott.
"I get to play with a past champion within [the last] 10 years … I do have a sneaky suspicion that it will be [Scott] … it'll be pretty cool," he said.
"I know that if I am with Scotty, the fan following from the Aussies over there will be much larger."
While an impressive performance at a big tournament would be nice, Crowe is still basking in the glory of his viral shot at St Andrews.
At the exact time Crowe and his mates were enjoying a few pints at The Dunvegan – known as the 19th hole at St Andrews — golf podcaster and storyteller Erik Anders Lang walked in.
With cameras in tow, Lang challenged someone to match Ernie Els's feat of hitting a ball from the pavement outside the pub, over nearby buildings and onto the 18th green.
With a bit of liquid courage under his belt, Crowe stepped up to the challenge.
"I definitely remember doing everything; I don't remember how many beers I'd had," Crowe said.
"It was a few, I'll put it that way, so we're not getting anyone in trouble, including myself."
As he lined up the shot, Crowe remembered someone saying: "Oh, this is not a good idea; you shouldn't be doing this."
"He said it on the top of the balcony about four feet away from me, but there were about 30-40 people gathered around, and every single one of them told him to shut up," Crowe said.
The trick shot was executed and the video went viral, while the headline wrote itself — amateur Australian golfer hits an illegal shot at the most famous golf course in the world.
Crowe reckons it was good for his image.
"It shows the character I am. If you're going to put something in front of me, I'm going to take on the challenge," he said.
There will undoubtedly be a few slightly different challenges ahead of Crowe at the Masters, but, in his own way, he is ready to rise to the challenge.
"I think realistically, as an amateur, there's not really any pressure on yourself," he said.
"The trick will be to bring myself back to reality and say, 'OK, we're still playing golf; let's focus in'.
"But I'm definitely going to revel in it. There's going to be 'pinch myself' moments, absolutely no doubt."
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