What’s it like to visit Augusta National for the first time? It’s a question so many of us may pose, but so few are able to experience it. Even for Ryan Fox, he didn’t know how to take it all in.
Like for so many in the game, it is a bucket list ambition to play in the Masters Tournament and that dream became a reality for the Kiwi golfer in 2023.
Even before the tournament week itself, when he described Augusta as golf’s “Disneyland”, that mystique of the venue hit home.
Hosted at the club through an associate who was a member, Fox drove down Magnolia Lane in the weeks leading up to the tournament to get his first experience – one that lives long in his memory.
Speaking on the latest Life on Tour presented by Buffalo Trace podcast, he said: “The first time I go there, we just have a drive around having a gin and tonic in a golf cart around the outside [of the course], looking at all facilities, media centre, all of the cool stuff.
“I went into the pro shop and spent far too much on merchandise there. We end up at the back of the golf course somewhere, walk through the trees and end up on the new 13th tee box and I’m like ‘can we walk down to the 12th green?’.”
Later that day, he had dinner at the clubhouse and fellow international stars Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler were among a handful of other professionals there.
After a sleepless night, amid the excitement, Fox then played a pre-arranged practice round the following morning alongside former New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, an Augusta member.
Fox, who is not in the field this week, added: “So, that was my first experience of [Augusta] and it was incredible.”
Memories to last a lifetime.
Click on the video above to watch the latest Life on Tour podcast in full.
