Walker sees top-10 finish in Masters debut as just the beginning

Jimmy Walker had to buy his own Masters memorabilia last year in his debut at Augusta National.

Despite a top-10 finish, Walker didn’t take home any of the souvenirs players can earn from the club, such as a crystal highball glass for an eagle or crystal vase for low round of the day. He instead settled for buying some T-shirts and coffee mugs.

He hopes to change that this year and earn the most cherished Masters prize – a green jacket.

“It was amazing,” Walker said of his first Masters at age 35. “You build things up in your mind and you want them to be a certain way. I think we all build that week up and it delivered for me.”

The centerpiece of the experience, of course, is Augusta National.

“I really like the way the golf course looks,” said Walker, who tied for eighth place in his debut. “You get to certain places and golf courses feel better to your eye, feel better to your game, and that place definitely suits my style of play.

“Some golf courses you go to, you just don’t get the vibe, tee shots don’t look good, second shots don’t look good,” he said. “But I do enjoy playing there.”

He said he learned one thing in 2014 that could help this year.

“Just hit a few more putts in the practice rounds,” he said. “I got in some spots where I wish I had a little more knowledge.”

Patience also is important on a course as tough as Augusta National, he noted.

“I think you need a lot of it there,” Walker said. “But I think a lot of it depends on weather. If you’ve got nice scoring conditions, it depends on the golf course and the greens and how receptive are they as to how aggressive you can get on a lot of holes. There are some par holes out there and birdies are a bonus.”

He pointed to the approach on the par-4 11th and the second shot into the par-5 15th as examples of how exacting the course can be.

The approach shot into No. 11 “is the best shot on the golf course because I think it’s the hardest shot on the course. It’s the one that really tests you.”

When two-time Masters champion Ben Hogan played in the Masters, he famously said if he was on the green with his approach on No. 11 that he mishit the shot. He tried to bail out to the right of the green to keep the water to the left of the green out of play, he said.

“The greens are so fast now I think that’s a bad play,” Walker said of Hogan’s old gameplan on No. 11. “I think you really want to be on the green now. When the greens were stimping at 9 and a half (on the stimpmeter in Hogan’s day), being right of that green was fine. Now they’re 14. It’s not so easy anymore.”

He says the second shot on No. 15 with its risk/reward option sums up what is best about the course.

From the top of the hill on 15, players face a downhill second shot to a green guarded by water in the front and behind – if they are brave enough to try it.

Walker played No. 15 in even par, going birdie-par-par-bogey.

”To me,” he said about No. 15, “it’s Augusta.”