Olesen's first Masters try pleases Denmark

Thorbjorn Olesen would have been easy to overlook at Augusta National last April.

At 5-foot-9, 152 pounds, the young Dane looks more like a kid on spring break than a Masters participant. His opening-round 78 was the most typical rookie thing about him.

What he did the next three days, however, should have turned some heads. Olesen recovered with rounds of 70-68-68 to finished tied for sixth, his 10-under par three-day tally the best of the field in the toughest conditions.

“After the round I felt like I played solid golf and shot 78,” Olesen said. “It’s just one of those courses where you can play great and shoot close to 80. It’s so easy when you get a little too aggressive and hit the wrong spots on the greens to make bogeys and double bogeys. But when you get it going there you can make a lot of birdies.”

If not for a couple of bad swings that led to a back-nine 41 on Thursday, Augusta might have been toasting the 23-year-old Dane instead of 32-year-old Australian Adam Scott on Sunday.

“It was just two bad shots really, and a couple of bad putts, and that’s a couple of double bogeys” on 10 and 18, Olesen said. “It’s so easy on that golf course, when you don’t know the course and you’re being a little bit too aggressive and you get a few dodgy swings.

“The next three days I played the same pretty much and felt just really confident on the greens and the whole area. I absolutely love the place and am really looking forward to going back.”

Despite his slight frame and inexperience, Olesen arrived at Augusta as a promising prodigy. He’d impressed as a 22-year-old when he held his own in a third-round matchup with Tiger Woods in the 2012 British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.

It was Woods’ Masters victory in 1997 that inspired Olesen to play golf.

“That was a big moment in my career,” Olesen said about his British Open pairing with Woods. “Playing normal tournaments and all of the sudden being in a major on Saturday in one of the final groups with Tiger is very special.

“He’s been my biggest idol by far and I was very pleased to be there. I was very nervous the first three or four holes but then I settled in and played really nice golf and he beat me by one. But it was a good round.”

That performance started trending Olesen from outside the top 100 toward the top 50, which earned him a trip to Augusta. He got acquainted with the course in an unusual fashion.

“It was a fun experience when I came there on Sunday and just walked the course in the late afternoon with a putter in my hands,” he said. “I think that really helped me a lot just getting the feel of the greens.”

A couple of practice rounds with Danish veteran Thomas Bjorn mapped out the best places to hit or miss and he put together an effective game plan.

“I feel like the tee shots suit me and I’m hitting my irons pretty solid,” Olesen said. “That’s what makes it easier for me at the Masters, because I like to shape it both ways. I think that’s very important at the Masters. I’m looking forward to getting back there and feel pretty confident.”

Despite a couple of top-five finishes on the European Tour’s desert swing, Olesen has slipped outside the top 60 in the world ranking. Playing full time on the PGA Tour will provide a new experience in his development, but he returns to Augusta with good thoughts.

“Obviously you need to play well and if you’re not in good form coming into the tournament it’s really tough,” he said. “Last year I played really solid at the start of the year, I was close to winning a couple of tournaments on the desert swing in the European Tour. So obviously I had a lot of confidence going into the Masters.”

His sixth-place finish was well received in Denmark, where the previous best result for a Dane at Augusta was a tie for 18th by Bjorn in 2002.

“It was the best result from a Danish guy in the Masters, so yeah, I got quite a lot of attention,” Olesen said. “It was a major and Thomas has been close to winning a couple times. That’s my big goal, to win a major sometime, and that was a good step in the right direction.”