PGA Features

Few golfers have savoured the thrill of playing in the Masters. Fewer still have played in it alongside the great Jack Nicklaus - six time winner at Augusta and still golf's greatest player in many people's eyes. Newport Golf Club head pro Paul Mayo has been lucky enough to do both! It remains a special moment in an impressive playing career that stretched from victory in the British Amateur to seven major appearances and an eight year stint on tour.

Mayo's encounter with Magnolia Lane, Amen Corner and the slickest greens known to man, arrived courtesy of his victory in the 1987 British Amateur Championship. Already a proud winner of the Open Silver Medal at Muirfield in 1987, Mayo delayed turning pro just to compete in the 1988 Masters - it was worth it.

From the moment the official Masters invitation arrived through the post, he was counting the days. "It was awesome - the place is incredible, immaculate and not a blade of grass out of place," remembers Mayo, who played college golf at Texas A&M University.

Driving up Magnolia Lane was 'spooky'.

"As a test of golf it would be hard if it was flat but with it being so hilly and its greens so severe, it's seriously tough." Driving up Magnolia Lane was a 'spooky' experience but with three practice rounds under his belt he was ready - until the prospect of playing with the Great Bear sent nerves tingling down his spine.

"On the Wednesday I came off the 18th and the press pack were there - 'what do you think about playing with Jack? 'Oh ****' I think was my first thought. Teeing off with Jack Nicklaus on the first at The Masters - that's quite scary!

"Even now when members are in the bar they like to tell the story of how when I stood up to tee off the wind was blowing and it carried my ball off but when Jack was announced the wind dropped and he hit it straight down the middle."

"I'd never played with Jack but I knew his son Jack Junior who was caddying for him so that broke the ice. My dad was caddying for me and he was straight in there having a chat.

"He shot 75 which was a tidy score on the day because it was quite cold and windy. There were massive crowds and you couldn't move from tee to green. Playing with Jack was just amazing - don't forget it was only two years since he won his sixth jacket, it was like playing with Tiger Woods today.

"And as much as you would like to play well, you would swap doing that for just having the experience of having done it - playing with Jack Nicklaus at Augusta."

Mayo is happy to confirm too that Amen Corner is well-named. "The psychology of playing 11,12 and 13 - it's an accident waiting to happen and it's difficult to appreciate what it is like," he says. "If you stand on the 12th, 145 yards, no wind with an eight iron in your hands - no problem. But with the wind blowing, under tournament conditions it's a different matter.

"Twelve and 13 over the years have made or broken the fortunes of Masters contenders. Thirteen particularly, the big hitters can reach in two and if you make a four you're in great shape. They talk about making birdies on the par fives but over the years plenty of people like Curtis Strange have stumbled at 13. It's a pivotal hole."

"If you can negotiate the steep inclines and find green there's always a three or even four putt to trip up over. The greens - some putts you can't get close - it's as simple as that. In the clubhouse you sometimes hear people saying that wasn't a great putt, he's rubbish etc and I look at them but I can't explain. Those greens can make good guys look like chumps."

Mayo missed the cut but stayed around to watch Sandy Lyle herald a new era for European golf with his stunning seven iron out of the bunker on 18 to secure victory. Unlike Lyle, Mayo won't be invited back but he's more than happy with his taste of the Masters.

"I coach the county juniors and they've got no idea but it's great history for me and my parents and if the stories start in the clubhouse about golf, my dad still chips in with 'my boy played in the Masters and I caddied for him'." And frankly who could blame him.

Paul Mayo is head PGA professional at Newport Golf Club contact 01633 893 271.