Having been to the Masters a handful of times as a spectator and played Augusta National another half-dozen occasions while a member of Georgia's golf team, Keith Mitchell hit the practice tee here Monday morning with some sense of familiarity.
Which would be his first mis-hit of the week.
“I thought I was prepared for the moment, but I wasn’t,” he said before the Masters. “I just kind of ... just walking, I was nervous just simply walking across the range.”
Welcome, rook. While there are no typical career arcs in professional golf, Mitchell has traveled a steeper path than most. Admittedly unprepared for the rigor of college golf his early seasons in Athens, he spent 2016 after graduation on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica, where the dreams of many go to die.
It took him 42 starts and almost two years on the Web.com Tour before he earned his PGA Tour card, despite never winning anything. He hit the Honda Classic six weeks ago in his 40th Tour start with a reputation for the long ball, which had done little except earn him No. 132 in the world rankings.
And then he won, dropping a 15-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to fend off Brooks Koepka and Rickie Fowler by one shot. That 10-year backstory he carries into the first major of his career, a 27-year-old grinder now finally arrived with the elite. Of course, he likes his chances.
“I feel I have gotten better every single year, which has led me to being here,” he said. “It wasn't as fast as some of the other guys like Justin Thomas or Jordan Spieth, who left college early because they were incredible.
“I was not incredible in college and it took me a little bit more time to get out here. Now we're on the same playing field. Obviously, their resumes are a lot more stacked than mine. But on Thursday morning when you tee the ball up, everybody is all square.”
A native Chattanoogan now living on St. Simon's, Mitchell has a slugger's chance. He was 10th on the Tour last year in driving distance (312.6 yards), which should translate well to Augusta National. He estimates he has spoken with 15 Masters veterans about shot targets and pin placements, the most valuable intelligence to be gleaned here.
But perhaps foremost, his biggest challenge will be the same sensation he experienced during his first range session. There is a reason only one player since Gene Sarazen in 1935 has ever won the Masters on his first try (Fuzzy Zoeller, 1979). High stakes with too much to learn and little time to learn it.
“It helps me to know that I have handled a situation, a pressure situation (at the Honda) before,” Mitchell said. “I’m not saying I’m going to handle all of them well, because each one is going to be very, very different. But it gives you kind of a sense of security out there when your nerves start going and your heart starts pounding too, that you know how to some sort of way to control it.
“I know every situation is different. The Masters is going to be a lot different. I hope I can just kind of rely on that and see what we can do.”
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