Jack Newman Prepares for Augusta
January 26, 2009
During
Zach Johnson’s Sunday march to victory in the 2007 Masters, hundreds of
thousands of Iowans watched and vicariously shared in the thrill of that
triumph. One young fan from Des Moines watching that day was Jack
Newman. Now Newman is preparing for his own appearance on one of golf’s
greatest stages at the April rite of spring in Augusta, Georgia.
Newman earned the coveted invitation by winning the 2008 U. S. Public Links Championship in Colorado last July. And even though he has not yet received his official invitation letter from Augusta National Golf Club, Jack had the opportunity to make his first visit there on November 21-22, 2008.
“My first trip to Augusta was one of the best memories I have ever had,” Newman said. “The tradition there is second to none, and getting a tour through all of the facilities was unbelievable.”
In early December Jack’s father Bob kindly provided us with a couple of photos of the first Augusta pilgrimage and I had a chance to speak with Jack by phone. Jack told me that even though his official invitation has not yet arrived the people at Augusta have let him know that he will be allowed to play as many times as he wants to leading up to the tournament in April! In our phone conversation we laughed about how many times Jack was using the word “awesome” to describe his first visit to Augusta National!
On Friday, November 21st Jack and his brother Dave arrived in the morning to discover that there was a frost delay for getting on the course. In his words they were “treated like royalty” and given a tour of the clubhouse. They got to see the Champion’s locker room and the Crow’s Nest which is the room perched on top of the Augusta clubhouse where amateur participants are invited to stay.
“I’ll probably sleep in the Crow’s Nest for at least a couple of nights,” Jack said in reply to my question. “But my whole family is renting a house for the week and I’ll probably stay there most of the time.”
One of the requirements for the amateur contestants when the visit for practice rounds is that they must use a club caddy, so Jack was joined Jay Jackson who was dressed in the traditional white jump suit on the 10th tee at 9:30 a.m. to begin his first day on the hallowed grounds. It was like he had his own private playground.
“There were only about 20 other people there to
play that day and they were all sent off #1,” Jack said. “I started on
#10 and only saw one other group all
day while playing 36-holes!”
The cold weather persisted during his stay in Augusta. He managed to play 30 holes on the Saturday, but Sunday morning was too cold and he had a flight to catch. I asked: “How often will you go back between now and next April?”
Jack replied that he would probably plan at least two more trips and “take a different brother with me each time.” I also asked about his spring schedule playing for Michigan State leading up to the Masters.
“We play at Pasatiempo in California and we have a tournament in Hawaii and another one at Pinehurst, I think,” he stated.
Let’s see: play in a tournament in Hawaii, then at an Alistair Mackenzie classic course in California, then Pinehurst, then, oh yes, The Masters
Awesome!!
-article written by Bill Dickens, IGA Executive Director