AUGUSTA, Ga. — Imagine you’re caddying your first time in the Masters, and your player tees off just after a couple icons named Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player hit the ceremonial tee shots to a backdrop of a packed tee-box of patrons who’ve been waiting all year for this.
And, your player goes first in his group.
Follow Jack Nicklaus? No problem right?
“I thought I’d be nervous but I wasn’t at all,” Terry Walker said.
Walker caddies for Andrew Landry, the Texan who almost made the 2018 Masters his first appearance if not for some epic play by a certain Jon Rahm in their playoff at the Career Builder Challenge a couple years ago.
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“Thursday morning I got up at 2 a.m. and I spent until 5 a.m. just getting my book ready, and when it was ready I felt prepared and ready on the first tee.”
Landry teed off with two other first-time players.
“The funniest part was we got paired with Adam Long and Corey Connors,” Walker said of the trio of first-time Masters contestants.
“And two of the days we played practice rounds, Andrew played with Corey and Adam, and then they got paired together the rest of the main tournament, and they played the Par 3 Contest together.
“It’s been pretty funny.”
Landry finished his first Masters round at even-par 72 and he trails the lead by six going into Day 2.
“On Andrew’s behalf he had a fire under him after the double bogey at 13, and that says a lot about who he is,” Walker said of Landry making three straight birdies from 14-16. “That’s what he does. He’ll get fired up about something and his focus turns on and he starts making birdie after birdie.”
So after getting into Augusta Monday afternoon, and now after looping his first ever Masters round, when did everything sink in for Walker?
“That white bib was just like, I just stared at it for 30 minutes, then I walked outside and started to get almost teary-eyed honestly,” he said. “I walked outside and saw the driving range and it was absolutely perfect, and I’m like ‘Oh my Lord.’
“It was all overwhelming, (because) the one thing I’ve always wanted to do was caddie at the Masters.”
So how does his perception of being on property, looping on the severely sloped fairways compare to the reality?
“All the hype doesn’t do it justice, it’s better than that,” Walker said.
“Having seen (Augusta National) so many years on television, it’s just neat to be able to see, feel and touch it. Every hole is just so beautifully designed.
“It’s overwhelming.”
And it’s also nice to see huge crowds of people from not just around the country but around the world.
“The crowds are incredible. Obviously probably a lot of people’s goal is to go to the Masters.”
And to caddie there.